He wants to ride his moped and have fun. That’s Patrick Hobelsberger’s plan for this coming weekend at the International German Championship (IDM) in Most. The 27-year-old BMW rider from Team GERT56 had to relinquish the lead in the IDM Superbike class to defending champion Florian Alt (Honda) after his disqualification in Oschersleben. He trails Alt by 19 points.
“I’ve done a lot of motocross and road cycling,” says Patrick “Pax” Hobelsberger, who declines to comment on Oschersleben. Last weekend, he competed in the International Roadracing Championship (IRRC) alongside his teammates Toni Finsterbusch and Jan-Ole Jähnig. This marked the opening of the motorsports season at the natural race track. The GERT56 trio is taking advantage of every training opportunity to be fully prepared for the IDM races. “The Schleizer Dreieck is the track where I’ve covered the fewest kilometers so far,” says the ambitious Hobelsberger, “so I’m not very familiar with it. I’ve only been there twice in my career.” Hobelsberger’s meticulous preparations are widely known.
Hobelsberger, Finsterbusch, and Jähnig competed in the BMW RR Cup, “but we didn’t race the full distance; we withdrew from the race early,” Finsterbusch notes. Otherwise, their dominance would have skewed the results. The Krostitz native repeatedly passed the spot where, two years ago, the serious accident occurred in the blisteringly fast “Seng” section when Jan Mohr collided with him. “I don’t even notice that spot anymore—only during the cool-down lap,” said the 31-year-old veteran, having put the incident behind him.
From June 21 to 23, 2024, however, he’ll first be heading to Most, Czech Republic. “I’ve already been there to train. So have Florian Alt, Lorenzo Zanetti, and Marc Moser,” Hobelsberger says, listing his competitors. The Bavarian from Landau an der Isar is now fourth overall in the standings, his Saxon colleague Finsterbusch is fifth, and the 23-year-old youngest member of the group, Jähnig from Lehndorf in Thuringia, is seventh following his rapid rise.
Hobelsberger still has one “special training session” ahead of him before Most—which he’s keeping to himself—and he plans to cover quite a few kilometers on his road bike. “It’s going to be a perfect week,” he says. We’ll see how it all turns out on Sunday in Most.