The BMW Motorrad racing department has extended the contract with team manager Werner Daemen and his team from Zonhoven for three years. This means that the Belgians are once again the official factory team of BMW: the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (LAW). Daemen and his team already became vice world champion and German SBK champion last season with BMW Motorrad.
Werner Daemen himself won several major titles as a road racing driver in his previous career and is now once again taking on the role of leading man of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. Where does his passion for motorcycling come from?
Werner Daemen: “I grew up in that world. My father did motocross and when I was just born, I was already present on the cross track. I just slept through when he was driving. The microbe has always been there.”
How did you switch from driver to team manager?
WD: “Actually, at that time my manager asked if I didn’t want to do management, because he was 55 or 60 years old at the time. I thought about it and talked to my wife Wendy about it. Participating in the absolute top means that you have to be involved in sports every day, with yourself. You are actually selfish as a sportsman. But in the end it went well, and in eleven years we still have good results. We started in 2010 and we have already become German champion 7 times, we have become vice world champion and German champion SBK.”
Did you have to learn a lot to become a good team manager or was it already ingrained by your experience as a driver?
WD: “I think you have 2 different types of team managers. You have people like me who have a very good background from driving themselves and who are therefore very good with the team. These people know what the drivers are going through and going through. That is mentally very hard. The disadvantage of this is that we have too little background in terms of education because we all started very young as motorsportsmen ourselves.”
“Now that I am a manager, I have Steven Casaer on my team. Steven is my technical crew chief. Steven is an engineer. He fully assists me with the technical part, because that is beyond my ability. Everyone has their own strengths! As a manager you have to put the right people in the right place and make those people feel happy and work well. Don’t think that you always know everything better, especially if it’s not about your own specialism.”
Is it a dream come true for you to ‘have your own team’? And on top of that a collaboration with BMW?
WD: “You don’t think about it that way, but of course everyone who starts something in the sport has the same goal. Every footballer wants to be a world champion, every motocrosser wants to be a champion and that is no different for me. Of course it is a dream to become world champion. You get up in the morning with it and you go to sleep with it at night. That’s 365 days a year, I’m always working on it. I don’t think there is any other way to achieve something like that.”
Why did BMW specifically choose you as a team? What makes you so special?
WD: “I think they knew the temperament of me and Steven. When we start something, we really go for the title, that has nothing to do with the financial aspect. It’s about our drive. I have never come to them with a higher budget. I just said, “This is our budget and I can make things happen with it.” I mean that too, I defend that tooth and nail. They also know that from the German Championship and they have now seen it with the World Championship: we can do it! We are also just people. I hope and think that made the difference. Steven is also world top in terms of experience and he is a top engineer. The fact that we two complement each other so well made all the difference. †
Do you have any specific goals in mind?
WD: “Becoming world champions is our highest goal. Sometimes we work day and night. We’re investing every minute to get to the top and stay there, so I think we’ll be back at the top of the World Championship next year. We are among the elite and we want to continue that success!”
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