Suzuki GSX-Rs put in a strong performance in the opening round of the International German IDM Supersport and Superbike Championships at EuroSpeedway Lausitz at the weekend as Team Suzuki Mayer's Jesco Günther raced to two fourth places in the Supersport class and team-mate Roman Stamm put his GSX-R600 into sixth place overall.

And, in the IDM Superbike class, Team HPC-Power's Sascha Hommel took his GSX-R1000 to two sixth-placed results in the hotly-contested races.

Reigning IDM Supersport Champion Günther (25) took to the new Suzuki and was impressive against a strong field of 33 other riders. However, Stamm's return to the Supersport class wasn't as smooth; the Swiss former Superbike rider being forced to retire in the first race as the result with a technical issue. In the second, the 35 year old came in sixth. Team Suzuki Laux riders Sarah Heide and Thomas Walther also suffered some bad luck and each crashed out in one of their races, but scored strong points in the other.

Said Günther: "The team has worked really hard on development over the Winter. The main challenge for us at Lausitz was to find a good set-up and grip on the back wheel and we're getting there step by step. On Sunday I should have made the same tyre choice as I did the day before but I went for the softer compound. All the same, I think I still got the most out of our package as it stands. Fourth place is no reason to hide: Quite the opposite in fact as this result has succeeded in relieving the pressure that the entire team was feeling before the start of the season. By the third IDM event, I think we'll have everything sufficiently under control so that a podium position will be on the cards."

Said Stamm: "In the first race I was in sixth place three laps before the end. At the most, there were just 20 meters between me and Jesco in fourth. My Dunlop tyres were so good that I was still able to push forward and gain ground. Then all of a sudden I felt that something wasn't quite right with my back tyre. It was clear that something was going wrong and I made straight for the pits. In the second race I went out on a brand new bike but didn't take any undue risks against the competition so that we had a few points safely in the bag crossing the finish line."

Development is ongoing with the Superbike team: For the newly-founded Team HPC Power Suzuki and team chief Ingo Härtel, the GSX-R1000 is a relatively-unknown commodity and the team continues to work on race settings. However, team rider Hommel was able to make his way up the rankings with two solid ninth places.

Said Hommel: "I'm currently one-and-a-half seconds behind the top riders, but we are working on new engine settings as it's a new machine for us this year. We started in the wrong direction, but now we are moving towards a better base setting so hopefully will improve."

IDM Supersport Results:

Race 1:

1 Daniel Sutter (CH), Kawasaki, 29:42.031 min. 2 Jan Bühn (D), Yamaha, 29:44.031 min. 3 Tatu Lausletho (FIN), Yamaha, 29:44.269 min. 4 Jesco Günther (D), Suzuki, 29:50.775 min. 5 Jaroslav Cerny (SLO), Yamaha, 29:50.917 min. 6 Thomas Walther (D), Suzuki, 30:00.680 min 7 Marc Neumann (D), Suzuki, 30:33.561 min.

Race 2:

1 Daniel Sutter (CH), Kawasaki, 29:44.535 min. 2 Tatu Lausletho (FIN), Yamaha, 29:49.313 min. 3 Jaroslav Cerny (SLO), Yamaha, 29:54.118 min. 4 Jesco Günther (D), Suzuki, 29:56.317 min. 5 Kevin Wahr (D), Yamaha, 30:01.105 min. 6 Roman Stamm (CH), Suzuki, 30:01.423 min. 7 Marc Neumann (D), Suzuki, 30:33.552 min. 8 Sarah Heide (D), Suzuki, 30:43.352 min.

Championship Points (after 2 of 16 races): 1. Sutter 50, 2. Lausletho 36, 3. Cerny 27, 4. Günther 26, 5. Wahr 21. 11. Stamm 10, 14. Walther 5.

IDM Superbike Results:

Race 1:

1 Matej Smrz (CZ), Yamaha, 30:23.075 min. 2 Jörg Teuchert (D), BMW, 30:26.679 min. 3 Michael Ranseder (A), BMW, 30:26.944 min. 4 Gareth Jones (AUS), BMW, 30:28.404 min. 5 Troy Herfoss (AUS), BMW, 30:32.069 min. 6 Sascha Hommel (D), Suzuki, 30:56.998 min. 7 Roland Resch (A), Suzuki, 30:57.236 min.

Race 2:

1 Jörg Teuchert (D), BMW, 30:19.024 min. 2 Michael Ranseder (A), BMW, 30:19.202 min. 3 Gareth Jones (AUS), BMW, 30:22.483 min. 4 Karl Muggeridge (AUS), Honda, 30:22.487 min. 5 Erwan Nigon (F), BMW, 30:30.741 min. 6 Sascha Hommel (D), Suzuki, 30:48.757 min. 7 Roland Resch (A), Suzuki, 30:49.651 min.

Championship Points (after 2 of 16 races): 1. Teuchert 45, 2. Ranseder 36, 3. Jones 29, 4. Smrz 25, 5. Muggeridge 22, 9. Hommel 14, 11. Resch 11.