After three rounds of the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM), each consisting of two races, the three riders from Team GERT56 are grouped closely together in fourth, fifth, and sixth place in the standings. Toni Finsterbusch currently has the best record of the three in the Superbike class.
On June 16, Toni Finsterbusch celebrated his 31st birthday. On Team GERT56, he stands like a rock in the midst of the young wild ones Patrick Hobelsberger (27) and Jan-Ole Jähnig (23). He is the mentor, the veteran with the most experience. Finsterbusch is a seasoned pro. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have become the team spokesperson. And right now, he leads the internal team standings.
Finsterbusch is the very picture of resilience. In 2022, after suffering serious injuries in an accident through no fault of his own at the Schleizer Dreieck, he had to cede his third-place position in the standings to others. Prior to that, he had secured two second-place finishes on his own merit. A year later, he returned to the paddock with his aesthetic riding style and aggressive braking, finishing fifth overall on the BMW M 1000 RR.
It is now 2024, and as his career draws to a close, the team is eagerly hoping for his first race win. Finsterbusch had kicked off the IDM Superbike season in May at the Sachsenring with another second-place finish. But nothing is impossible.
The first race at the third event in Most, Czech Republic, last weekend did not go as planned for the Krostitz native. Early on, a braking issue forced him into the gravel trap, and he had to rejoin the race at the back of the field. He finished tenth after 67.392 kilometers over 16 laps. In the second race, Finsterbusch was right up there with the leaders, but after making a conservative tire choice, he was ultimately unable to keep up with the pace of the front runners. He finished in fourth place, narrowly missing the podium by 1.474 seconds.
“Tenth and fourth. One bad result and one good one,” Finsterbusch sums up. “In qualifying, I managed a really blazing-fast lap of 1:32.785, and I could have kept up with the Superbike World Championship. In the first race, unfortunately, I had to go straight on in the penultimate corner of the third lap because I had a small problem with the brakes. I was just able to stop the bike before the air fence and returned to the track in second-to-last place. The race was actually a lot of fun, even though it took place way at the back.” After a comeback, Finsterbusch still finished in tenth place. “That allowed me to pick up a few more points. In the second race, I had a better start and was able to move up to second place. I stayed there until halfway through the race, but I made a few mistakes and ended up in fourth place. However, being 1.7 seconds behind the winner is definitely very close to the top. We hadn’t made the optimal tire choice for that race.”
In the overall standings, Finsterbusch is in fourth place with 69 points. Hobelsberger follows with 63 points. Jähnig has earned 62 points so far and is in sixth place. Anything is possible.
