Everything is back on track for Dutch rider Danny de Boer and the Weber Motos team . They’ve reached an agreement. De Boer will take over the Kawasaki ZX-10R for the Swiss team effective immediately. This brings an end to an odyssey for both sides.
De Boer had joined Michael Galinski’s MGM Yamaha team before the season. He was considered a potential title contender. However, the bike and the preparations for the R1M at the first race were completely different from what the Dutch rider had been promised. He soberly assessed the situation and concluded that he wouldn’t have been able to make it onto the podium with that bike. De Boer, for his part, pulled the plug and withdrew.
Weber Motos had been counting on Mathieu Gines, the former World Endurance Champion, to be their star rider, but he was sidelined by injury at the start of the season and never quite reached top form on the ZX-10R afterward. The Frenchman wasn’t on the starting grid in Schleiz either. He chose to compete in the World Endurance Championship race at Suzuka over the IDM Superbike 1000.
Now everything has fallen into place. De Boer will race for Weber Motos in the final three IDM events at the Lausitzring, in Assen, and the season finale at Hockenheim. The Dutch rider had already agreed to the deal via email last week. Now, after testing at Hockenheim, the deal was officially sealed with a handshake. Everyone involved is on the same page.
“The test was important to us. We wanted to see if Danny could really handle the Kawasaki,” says team manager Emil Weber. Danny de Boer explains: “The most important thing for me, first and foremost, was that there was a family-like atmosphere on the team. I need that kind of environment to be successful. We still have a lot of work ahead of us with the Kawasaki, but it has potential. I was having major problems this morning, and we had to completely change the setup. By the end of the day, I was going much faster. With a few more hours on the bike, it’ll get even better, and I believe we can finish in the top five by the end of the season.” It was almost clear to de Boer that BMW would be in a class of its own at the top. “I already saw it last year and had a feeling about it when I was racing there.”