For Team Manager Thomas Eder, the 2025 season is all about the IDM Supersport, and nothing will stay the same. With Kilian Holzer and Štěpán Zuda, two new Yamaha R6 riders are on board. Captain Eder himself will be testing out a brand-new Ducati V2 Panigale.
Nothing is set in stone. In 2025, the team will race again without official Yamaha support. “We do everything ourselves and are independent,” says team manager Thomas Eder. Right now, the trio of Eder, Kilian Holzer, and Štěpán Zuda is at the race track in Cartagena for a trial run. It’s their first joint rollout, but according to Eder, it’s already clear: “They’re a really good fit for us, including the whole families. We spent New Year’s Eve together. It’s absolutely crucial to me that we get along. Otherwise, none of this makes any sense.”
Neither Holzer nor Zuda are strangers to Germany’s top motorcycle racing series. The 18-year-old from the Zillertal region made his IDM debut last year at the Nürburgring, when he filled in for Thomas Eder. His boss had “back” at the time and entrusted the junior with the practice bike. But the teenager was still feeling the aftereffects of various crashes in the Spanish Supersport Championship while in the Eifel. Yet Holzer is tough. Although he broke his spine twice in 2023, it has always driven him back to the track. Motorcycles have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. Three years ago, he won an NTC race at the Red Bull Ring. Holzer also competed in the IDM finale at Hockenheim, and even back then, he and Eder had been openly discussing the idea of putting something together. That has now happened.
Štěpán Zuda caused a stir in the IDM Supersport class at the start of last season, back when he was riding a Ducati V2 Panigale. The Czech rider won the first race at the Sachsenring, and no one had the 19-year-old from Liberec on their radar. The year before, he had competed in three events and finished seventh at the Sachsenring on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. Zuda was on the rise in 2024, but parted ways with the AF-Racing Team midway through the season. Now he’s back, riding a Yamaha, having sat on a race bike for the first time since July, and Thomas Eder says: “Both guys are doing very well. Kilian was really fast today, and Štěpán has just gotten a feel for the Yamaha.”
There’s a reason Holzer and Zuda are racing on Yamahas in the IDM Supersport Next Generation: “We have some really good bikes in our team and a lot of insights. I’m riding the Ducati V2 Panigale myself to work on the setup. You never know what the future might bring,” said Eder.