Andreas Lettenbichler ensured that ’07 drew to a close in a very positive way for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team as he qualified for the finals at the second round of the Indoor
Enduro World Cup, the Munich Indoor Enduro, aboard the new 450 sports enduro bike. With Andreas having only competed in his first ever indoor enduro event two weeks prior to the Munich race, having learned much about what is needed to succeed in the challenging sport he managed to squeeze his way through one of the two LCQ races and into the finals after several mistakes prevented him scoring enough points to move through into the finals via the qualifying
races.

Once in the finals it was simply a case of doing the best he could and despite having much less experience than many of his rivals Andreas proved himself to be considerably more competitive than he was in Spain two weeks earlier.

Helped by lightning fast starts aboard his 450cc BMW, Andreas found himself caught out by the difficult Munich track once too often in the first race and ended up eight. Race two started in the best possible way as another great start was followed by Andreas leading the race for two full laps while those behind him struggled to mount a serious challenge for the lead. Once again mistakes spoiled what could have been an extremely positive result. The third race went much
the same way as the first as the mixture of close competition and the demanding track resulted in Andreas falling, getting stuck in one of the difficult rock sections as well as making several other mistakes, like most all of the 11 riders in the final. Despite not claiming a result as high as he would have liked Andreas was thrilled simply to have made the finals, especially considering the high number of experienced WEC riders that failed to make the grade.

Also competing for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team was Belgian Jean-Francois Goblet. Performing well during the timed qualifying sessions Goblet found that luck simply wasn’t on his side and failed to make it through into the finals. Travelling to Munich to support his team mates was new BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Anders Eriksson.

Andreas Lettenbichler: “I was able to spent a lot more time on the bike before this race than I did before the Barcelona indoor enduro, and I think I showed that. I felt much more comfortable on the bike and had a great night. My qualifying races didn’t go so well so I had to win my LCQ race to get into the final, which I managed to do. I could see Bartosz Oblucki ahead of me, a long, long way ahead, and I just kept pushing as hard as I could. He made some mistakes and I
managed to pass him just before the finish. “The three finals were extremely tough. I was just
pleased to be there because it gave me a great opportunity to spend more time in indoor enduro competition. I learned so much from the final, but like I said it was tough. The second race was the best one for me. I was getting great starts all evening and I lead the second race for two laps, which was great. I knew I had some really fast guys behind me but I didn’t make any mistakes for two laps and I was able to stay ahead of them. But then I made a mistake, started to get a
little bit tired, and dropped back. The third race was a bit like the first where I made too many mistakes to get a really good result. I had a great time and this is still only my second indoor enduro so I am really pleased I was able to qualify and lead for some laps.”

Wolfgang Fischer (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team Manager):
“It’s been a huge step forward for the riders and the team since Barcelona. With more time on the bikes training I think that the riders showed that they are getting faster. In qualifying they were fourth and fifth times, which was great. The track was pretty tough and all of our riders suffered a little but they got some great starts. Having Andreas in the final was a great end to the end of the year. The riders and technicians know what they need to do during the off-season so
we are all looking forward to the start of next season.”

Results – ’07 Munich Indoor Enduro
1. David Knight (KTM) 42 points
2. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 39
3. Mika Ahola (Honda) 27
4. Markus Kehr (KTM) 26
5. Xavi Galindo (KTM) 17
6. Gregory Eyries (Yamaha) 15
7. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 14
8. Tom Sagar (KTM) 11
9. Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 8
10. Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) 5
11. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 3