Maximilian Scheib (pictured right) as the best privateer in Phillip Island 2020 photographed by us together with Scott Redding (middle) and Jonathan Rea on Sunday. Because the previous speakers to his left spoke very verbosely in the interview, the likeable Chilean emphasized at the beginning of the interview that he would give significantly less on the record because he was less eloquent in English. Scotty’s sympathy followed, of course, just as the spontaneous Englishman is now known.

Chilean Scheib replaces Hafizh Syahrin for Argentina’s World Cup round

In addition to Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado, another rider from South America will take the place of the injured and ill Hafizh Syahrin at the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship race in Argentina. Maximilian Scheib will start for the MIE Racing Honda Team as a returnee in the World Championship at the Circuito San Juan Villicum. 27-year-old Scheib contested a full WorldSBK season in 2020 for the Orelac Racing VerdNatura team, which was cut short by injury. He particularly impressed us in the second race with an excellent seventh place. A crash in FP2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya thwarted a successful continuation in Europe for Leiter. He therefore missed the last two rounds of the first Corona season, which he ended up finishing 21st in the championship with 11 points.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati) in front of Maximilian Scheib, Sandro Cortese (both Kawasaki) and HRC Honda ace Leon Haslam photographed by us in the 2020 Phillip Island Honda Corner in the sprint race. The speedy Chilean number 77 impressed before the Covid-19 break after the season opener Down Under.

Maximilian Scheib on his return to WorldSBK: “I am so happy to be returning to the WorldSBK paddock! The call came as a great surprise and I would like to thank MIE Racing Honda for this opportunity and Antonio D’Angelo who did an incredible job has done to get me ready again. Racing here in Argentina in front of all the South American fans will be fantastic. I want to enjoy the weekend and push my own limits. I feel well prepared and in good shape so will the goal will be to work step by step with the team and do the best we can.”

Maximilian Scheib with his Argentinian teammate Leandro “Tati” Mercado (on the right) is looking forward to the race in San Juan and can’t wait for the weekend of October 21st to get underway (© MIE Honda).

The career of the Chilean figurehead
From 2016, Scheib competed in the Superstock 1000, where he immediately finished thirteenth. In his debut season, he also clinched his first win in this junior series at the season finale in Spain. Second was Lucas Mahias ahead of a certain Toprak Razgatlioglu, who finally made his breakthrough as WorldSBK World Champion 5 years later. The year after, Maximilian finished eighth in the championship after claiming three podium finishes. He then finished third in his third season in the following year 2018, after 4 podiums and a win in Brno. In the same year he also made his debut in the WSBK on MV Agusta. In San Juan he scored his first championship points in the first race with P13. In 2022 Scheib rode in the Spanish Superbike Championship and finished ninth overall on a Honda CBR1000RR-R.

Maximilian Scheib photographed by us in front of his Kawasaki brand colleague Sam Lowes and Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) at the 2020 season opener in Phillip Island. The Chilean had a lot of bad luck in his first full season and as a replacement for Hafizh Syahrin is definitely an enrichment for the starting field near his home country.

The reason for the failure of Syahrin
The Malaysian was injured while training for a road race and unfortunately has to miss the WSBK round in Argentina despite only having a minor injury. After further medical checks, it was further determined that Syahrin had tested positive for Covid-19, even though he showed hardly any symptoms. It is hoped that the MIE Honda regular will rejoin his team for Round 11 of the 2022 season. Close to home, he could take part in the penultimate round of the season in Indonesia before heading to Australia at the end of the season.

A shot fresh from the WorldSBK press conference in San Juan 2022 with, from left, record World Champion Johnny Rea (Kawasaki), World Championship leader and near World Champion 2022 Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) and former top rider Gregorio Lavilla – today for Dorna in charge of the Superbike World Championship responsible. See also his review of his career as a pilot under Interviews on this page (© WorldSBK).