Following a test at Misano, Patrick “Pax” Hobelsberger and team manager Oliver Skach have reached an agreement. They will compete together in the 2025 IDM Superbike season. Hobelsberger will thus be switching from the GERT56 BMW to the only Kawasaki team officially supported by the importer.
Although the new Bavarian rider for Skach Motors Kawasaki Racing was only able to complete about 20 laps at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli due to bad weather, it was enough to help him make his decision. “He gave us positive feedback,” reports team boss Oliver Skach, who can now begin preparations for next year, “but we definitely still have a lot to adapt and fine-tune.”
With MecTronik, the team has a high-end electronics manufacturer on board and will be working directly with the company’s CEO and lead developer. Hobelsberger has already come to know and appreciate the system from his time in the Supersport World Championship. “I’m very confident in the planned testing and development efforts,” he says enthusiastically, “and all the information from Kawasaki has also left me feeling very positive. Developing the new engines and their applications is an enormous undertaking. This demonstrates the commitment to moving the project forward.”
Last season, the 28-year-old Zimmerer returned from the season opener at the Sachsenring as the leader of the IDM Superbike series. His goal was to win the championship in 2024, but various setbacks dropped him to fourth place overall by the end of the year. It’s still too early to say how far he’ll go with the Kawasaki in 2025. The Skach team has just completed its debut year in Germany’s top motorcycle racing class, and development of the ZX-10RR is still in full swing. “It might be unrealistic to talk about a title fight,” Hobelsberger admits, but he also points out: “However, nothing is impossible in racing.”
Pax plans to contribute to this effort in the coming weeks and months. At the end of November, the Bavarian from Landau an der Isar will head to Spain to train, as he always does during the winter months. His test bike is almost ready. “It’s going to be a long winter: My preparation starts two weeks earlier than usual. To take it up a notch and do justice to my commitment to testing and development, I’ll be living in Spain for the entire winter.”