Patrick Hobelsberger and Toni Finsterbusch have settled in at the TT Circuit in Assen. The penultimate round of the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) will take place in the Netherlands this coming weekend. The two BMW riders from Team GERT56 already got a taste of what it’s like to stand on the podium during a test at “Jack’s Raceday.”
Jack’s Raceday is the largest motorsports event in the Netherlands. The combination of cars and motorcycles draws in the crowds. As always, two rounds of the Dutch Superbike Championship were held as part of the event. The first race was won by the eventual champion, Ricardo Brink, and the second by Patrick Hobelsberger—with Toni Finsterbusch hot on his heels.
Noch vor einem Jahr fuhr Hobelsberger auf der Strecke mit dem siebten Platz sein bestes Ergebnis in der Supersport-WM-Saison 2022 ein. Ab der zweiten Runde hatte er damals mit Hannes Soomer gekämpft, bis zum Schluss. Heute sehen sich beide in der IDM Superbike wieder. „Mit dem Motorrad wollte ich vor dem IDM-Lauf unbedingt nochmal trainieren, denn mit dem Superbike fühlt sich jede Strecke neu an“, so Hobelsberger.
But his plan didn’t work out: “The first practice session took place on Friday, and I had qualified in P5. My plan was to run the first qualifying session on used tires and the second on new ones. However, it started raining shortly before the second qualifying session, so I ended up in fifth place.” Both races ended on the podium, moving up just one spot, and the same went for teammate Toni Finsterbusch, who had also traveled with his private BMW training bike. “For Toni and me, a double podium was an absolute dream,” Hobelsberger said happily, “we haven’t achieved that in the IDM yet. Maybe we’ll get our chance this year.”
While Finsterbusch was up and at it early on Monday morning in Saxony, Hobelsberger is staying right through the IDM event in Assen and is also thinking practically: “That way, I save myself the trip back and forth. That’s two 900-kilometer journeys. And really, it doesn’t matter where I train on my road bike—here, I even get to see something new.”