Pepijn Bijsterbosch would rather be thinking about a podium finish right now than the COVID-19 hiatus. During the last IDM season, he made it onto the podium five times. At the end of the year, he went down in the history books of the IDM Superbike 1000—Germany’s top road racing class—as the third-place finisher overall. Most notably, the BMW rider from the Netherlands was one of only two riders to finish every race and score points in each one. Aside from Pepijn Bijsterbosch, the only other rider to achieve this was Alessandro Polita (Honda).
Because public life in the Netherlands has come to a standstill due to the coronavirus, the 30-year-old from Team PB Motorsport is under house arrest—though he chose this himself. Bijsterbosch has, in fact, bought a small, old farmhouse and is currently renovating it. He has his hands full at his construction site. “Doing it yourself” is the magic word. Still, he hopes things will change soon. “I haven’t driven my BMW in such a long time. Our gyms are closed, too—nothing’s happening anymore. The only thing I can do is live a healthy lifestyle and follow the rules the government has set for us.”
Bijsterbosch lives in Heerde, a municipality in the Dutch province of Gelderland with just under 20,000 residents. Bijsterbosch says, “In town, many elderly people have been sick or have died from COVID-19. Some people I know were sick, too. I’m glad it wasn’t life-threatening.”