Lukas Trautmann is one of the most promising young talents in the German-speaking motorcycle racing scene and the Austrian will replace injured Kev Coghlan in the MRS Yamaha team at the Jerez round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup next weekend.

With Coghlan having been injured in last month’s Schleiz round of the German IDM championship, Trautmann will ride a similar version of the Yamaha YZF R1M he has used all season with the Freudenberg Racing Team in the German Superstock Championship.

In the IDM, Trautmann holds third in the Superstock class standings, with seven of eight rounds having been run. The 19-year-old has so far celebrated four wins and a further four podium finishes having competed in all of the races, despite breaking his metacarpal and right fibula in a crash during the second race.

WorldSBK.com catches up with the young Yamaha rider in an exclusive interview…

Lukas, do you know the Circuito de Jerez? What do you expect from your first race in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup?
Yes, the first time I visited Jerez de la Frontera was in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, in which I raced for three years. In 2013 we had the three official test days there and I returned to that track with Moto2 the same year, so track knowledge should be there in any case. Regarding the expectations, I prefer to be cautious. The top ten would be great and anything better would make me more than happy.

What is the difference between the MRS Yamaha and your IDM-spec Yamaha?
I’m not sure yet! We don’t plan to do any tests, so it will come as a surprise for me. I think the spec and the components are exactly the same; maybe some small details are different, but overall the bikes should be pretty similar. On Wednesday and Thursday of this week (9-10 September) I’m going to test again with my Freudenberg Racing Team at Hockenheim, in order to be ready for the final round of the IDM. I’m convinced this will already be a big help.

How will you prepare for that weekend?
As I do for any other weekend, nothing different. It is physical training you need to prepare yourself for the track and the bike – everything has it’s peculiarities. I try to focus, set goals and to prepare on how the team will be and how I have to work with them. Maybe I need to adapt all the data from my bike, so I have to know everything exactly: the wheelbase, which spring elements are installed and so on. Then I will be able to just adapt all my stuff. So, it should be like any other race weekend. I do think my competitors will be on a different level there, but we need to wait and see how it all works out.

What about your 2015 IDM season with the Freudenberg Racing Team?
Up and down! The first race was really good, but unfortunately I went into a wall during the second encounter and broke my metacarpal and my right fibula. Now everything is healed again. I didn’t need to skip any race and, since the Schleiz round at the beginning of August, we have got the bike and myself – mentally, as much as physically – back on a level on which everything just fits together. We’ve been able to achieve great things since then (a double win at Schleiz plus a third place and another win at Assen).

Do you already know anything about next year? Is there any chance we will be seeing you in the Superstock 1000 on a permanent basis?
In any case, I would be happy to ride a motorcycle. That’s my goal. For sure, it would be great to make it into the Superstock 1000 full-time, but this unfortunately doesn’t depend on only me. I think it would make more sense than the IDM because the competition, the bikes and basically everything starts off on a better basis; you are able to ride in surroundings in which you’re able to learn a lot more and maybe get the chance to step up to the World Championship one day.

But this won’t be your first venture WorldSBK race at Jerez…
Yes, in 2013 I did one race in Superstock 600 with Gunther Knobloch’s team (riding a Yamaha YZF-R6) and finished seventh. That wasn’t too bad, but the five guys at the front (Kyle Smith, Franco Morbidelli, Alessandro Nocco, Bastien Chesaux and Stefano Casalotti) were simply on another level. The jump up to them is really big. If you come into the championship without any knowledge of anything - the tyres, the bike, the team - and with no testing, it is very difficult.