On his Facebook page, Patrick “Pax” Hobelsberger has posted a photo asking his fans to guess what he’ll be doing next. But the secret’s out. The 28-year-old Bavarian will remain in the IDM Superbike series. The big news is that Hobelsberger will now be riding a Honda.
In Germany’s top motorcycle racing class, things remain exciting for last year’s IDM fourth-place finisher. At the end of the season, Team GERT56 and Hobelsberger parted ways. Shortly thereafter, the rider proudly announced he had signed with Skach-Kawasaki to compete with the only Kawasaki team in the IDM Superbike class officially supported by the importer. But by February, the partnership had already fallen apart. Skach realized at the time that his team could not meet Hobelsberger’s extreme demands. The split was amicable. There was no bitter feud.
In the weeks that followed, the racer explored all his options and, at times, wasn’t even sure if the IDM would remain his championship. But anyone who knows Hobelsberger knew there was more to come. It’s a Honda—and thus the second Fireblade in the field alongside that of IDM runner-up Florian Alt. It’s still under construction. The Bavarian is working like crazy, is “on the go 25 hours a day,” and almost forgets to breathe, because there’s still a lot of work ahead of him. That’s why Hobelsberger, a trained carpenter from Landau an der Isar who is both the rider and team manager, will likely still be absent from the IDM season opener from May 9–11, 2025, at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.