Round 10 at the Lausitzring this weekend will see Markus Reiterberger return to the WorldSBK Paddock after three months spent in recovery after an accident that put the German out of action in Misano. After testing and lots of rehabilitation, the 2016 WorldSBK rookie is confident ahead of his first home race.

Welcome back to the paddock Markus after horrible crash three months ago at Misano. First of all how are you and what happened?
Yeah thanks a lot. I feel good now, at Misano I made a mistake and was too late on the breaks trying to pass Nicky Hayden and I touched Chaz Davies. I had a big,  big flight through the air and I broke two vertebrae’s and now three months later I am back on track, I’m feeling good, a little bit of pain but I’m feeling really good about being back and can’t wait to race.

When you were flying through the air did you have time to think, ‘Oh no, I’m having an accident’?
In that moment I wasn’t thinking but the pain that I felt a few hours later was maybe the worst moments because of the pain and it took a long time to get the scans done.

Apart from the incident at Misano that put him on the sidelines until now, the 2016 season has been relatively strong for the German WorldSBK rookie, with a fouth place in Malaysia and a fifth place in Thailand. Looking ahead of his home race, Reiterberger is hopeful of his return to the Lausitzring- the last time he raced here being ten years ago in his IDM Championship racing days. While the experience might come in handy, it will be a lot different tackling the winding circuit on his BMW 1000 RR Superbike.

People are asking can Reiterberger finish on the podium, what do you think?
Yeah its true it’s my goal to get on the podium but after such a long injury time it’s not so easy to get back on track and be in front, but for me I’m happy if I can finish in the top 10 first, feel good on the bike and get back to my old riding style. The season so far has been good with some problems but I think this is normal. The first season is never easy, we’ve had some up and downs and we can only try our best for next season and then we should be strong. This weekend for me it would be great if the weather stays sunny, but the forecast says a little rain. We will see because here you never know. When it’s raining, it’s really difficult to ride here, but at least it’s going to be the same for everyone.

And everything is place for next season with the Althea BMW Racing Team again?
Yeah my contract is for another year, I’m very happy about this and looking to finish the season well to prepare for next year.

Reiterberger will get his long awaited first taste of Superbike action again in Free Practice on Friday the 16^th of September at 10:15 am local time (GMT+2) at the Pirelli German Round.