World Championship rider Lucy Michel uses Nürburgring surprise to prepare

At Donington Park, Lucy Michel, the only German rider in the Women’s World Championship (WCR), scored points for the second time this year in her main discipline. Finishing 12th out of 24 fast women gave cause for hope of further good results in 2026, but unfortunately the opportunities for this are severely limited. Following the meeting in the UK in mid-July, the only remaining event for the female riders is the WSBK finale from 16 to 18 October in Jerez de la Frontera. This means that the 21-year-old from Saxony, unlike her many rivals who race far more frequently, remains trapped in her dilemma of not having enough kilometres under her belt.

To counteract this at least to some extent, she was given a last-minute opportunity to compete in the Euro Moto Sportbike class at the Eifel circuit. “We’ve got a break of over three months between Donington and Jerez. So I’m really happy that I’ve been able to get another good race simulation. Of course, we knew I wouldn’t finish at the front, but I’m glad I was here and managed to clock up a few good kilometres,” she said in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com.

Boss has to play ball

Similarly, Lucy Michel – whose time is severely limited by numerous weekend shifts as a medical technologist in the radiology department of a hospital – took part in a pit bike race two weeks before the Nürburgring outing. During a casual chat with Knut Beinlich – team boss of BRT, whose son Christoph races in the Euro Moto Superbike series – she mentioned that she’d have liked to make a guest appearance at Assen. As sometimes happens, one thing led to another, and Knut Beinlich organised a guest start for Lucy in the Eifel. After a few twists and turns, she eventually ended up on the Yamaha R7 previously ridden by Australian Max Stauffer, who had switched to the Supersport class with the Apreco-Yamaha team during the season.

“I had no idea that Knut had been actively arranging this, practically behind my back. But a week and a half before the Nürburgring, I was told to start making some concrete phone calls. It wasn’t until the Monday before the race – at very, very short notice – that I found out I could race. Then my employer didn’t want to give me time off. I managed, with great difficulty, to get time off from Thursday lunchtime.”

Uncharted territory at the Nürburgring

Apart from the fact that she’d never ridden at the Nürburgring before, she also had to adapt to a few differences in the motorbike compared to the one she was used to. She explained: “The motorbike has a blipper, different electronics and a few more PS than my World Championship bike.”

After the rider from the Ore Mountains missed the extra test day on Thursday due to her late arrival, missed the riders’ briefing that afternoon and had to fork out 50 euros in ‘extra entry fee’, she finished 14th and 13th respectively in the two races, at the back of the field. However, she was by no means dissatisfied with the kilometres she had covered.

At the end of September, she’ll be doing another test in Jerez and intends to make the best of her tricky situation there too. “The guest appearance at the Nürburgring was a good example of that.”