The transfer merry-go-round in the IDM Supersport keeps on spinning. Andreas Kofler, who finished third overall, is returning with a new team. The reveal of which team it is won’t be long in coming. Kofler will once again be fighting for the title on a Yamaha in 2024, but his preparations for the season are still giving the 19-year-old Austrian from Attnang-Puchheim a headache.
Instead of jogging and strength training, other things are taking center stage in Andreas Kofler’s life right now. The 2023 IDM Supersport overall third-place finisher is completing his six-month basic military service with the Austrian Armed Forces through April. He enlisted immediately after the IDM finale at Hockenheim. By September, he had completed all his shooting drills and self-defense courses and has since been able to call himself a trained soldier. Because he was then transferred to the barracks kitchen, “I’m now also a professional dishwasher,” Kofler announces. “Next Monday, I’ll be heading to the Army Sports Center in Linz. I don’t know to what extent I’ll be able to work out there and prepare physically for the motorcycle season. I’m working as a support soldier in the office.” On April 2, 2024, it will all be over. “Then I’ll return all my equipment,” says Kofler, referring to his STG 77A1 assault rifle, which he carries with him at all times.
After that, Kofler plans to throw himself fully into training for the upcoming IDM Supersport season, hoping that things will start to come together at the training center as well. He wants to fight for the title, just like last year. Although he finished third overall in 2023, the season with Max Enderlein’s Team M32 Racing didn’t quite go as the ambitious Upper Austrian had hoped, even though he secured eight podium finishes, including one victory, toward the end. There will be a new team, and he’ll be riding a Yamaha again, Kofler reveals. Speculation is rife, as it is still unclear where his brother Maximilian, who is four years his senior and competes in the Supersport World Championship, will be racing.