Lennox Lehmann (Yamaha): First test for the 2027 IDM and hopes for a World Championship chance

Following what was for him a disappointing 2025 IDM season, Lennox Lehmann finished his first and only Euro Moto season in the Supersport class in third place. Although he was running out of steam a little by the time the final round at Hockenheim came around – and third place overall was already assured, with no chance of moving up the standings under normal circumstances – he rounded off the season nicely with two further third-place finishes.

The 20-year-old from Dresden, riding for Team Apreco-Yamaha, told SPEEDWEEK.com: “It was a good season, one we can be really happy with. Especially after my tough year in 2025. Apart from one race, I’ve been on the podium every time. We’ve learnt a lot again and now have a good foundation for next year.”

Victory will have to wait

What was missing this year for the two-time IDM Supersport 300 champion (2020 and 2021) was that final touch – in other words, a win – though he doesn’t see this as a major setback. “At Assen I was close, but then I crashed out on the final lap whilst leading. That’s a shame, but it doesn’t spoil my good season, as we were a lot more competitive than last year and have kept getting better.”

Speaking specifically about his Hockenheim weekend, he explained: “In the second race, I wasn’t too far off the runner-up. In the first race, I generally struggled a bit, as we’d already done a lot of testing for next year over the weekend. These were things we hadn’t dared to try before. We could afford to do that because third place in the championship was already secure and second place was out of reach under normal racing conditions. So we tried out a few things, some of which worked well and others not so well. That’s why things went a tiny bit less well in the first race than in the second. In the first race, we ran with a different set-up to usual. I just found that a bit trickier to get to grips with than usual. In the second race, I was also lucky enough to slip onto the podium thanks to Luca (Göttlicher)’s crash. Overall, Hockenheim was a good weekend for us too.”

Initial tests for next year

He was at least willing to go into a little more detail about the tests for 2027: “We’ve done a lot of work on the suspension, tweaked the geometry and collected a lot of data for next year.”

With champion Dirk Geiger moving up to the IDM Superbike class and runner-up Daniel Blin leaving the German racing series – his next destination as yet unknown – Lennox Lehmann is a logical potential successor to the Supersport throne. Regardless of that, he has already set out his goal: “Yes, it’s definitely my aim to challenge for the title. That’s naturally also the team’s plan – or rather, it’s expected to some extent – to bring the title back to Apreco.”

The prospect of moving up to the Superbike class, like his team-mate Dirk Geiger – especially as he has long been riding 1000cc bikes in the World Endurance Championship – is also a goal for him, but not a must. His thoughts on this are: “Yes, definitely. However, I’m three and a half years younger than Dirk, so I’m not under that immense pressure to move up to Superbike as quickly as possible. Of course, that’s the plan sooner or later, but that doesn’t mean 2027 will be my last year in Supersport. For now, we want to go for the Supersport title.”

The World Championship remains the goal

Could the path currently being charted by his Superbike team-mate this year, Twan Smits, also lead to the Superbike World Championship, or does he consider it slightly easier to get closer to his ultimate goal – a return to the World Championship – in the Supersport category? “Not necessarily. You can see it with Twan at the moment, who, having recently dominated the Euro Moto Superbike series, has been given the chance to race in the World Superbike Championship for the last three races of the season. That shows it’s not impossible to make it into the World Championship via the national championship. It also shows that Yamaha is keen to develop young riders and give them a chance.”