Patrick Hobelsberger: Final stop at Euro Moto Most – the 2026 season is over

When Patrick Hobelsberger withdrew from the races at Most during the Euro Moto event following a rather disappointing practice session, it was already clear where the Bavarian’s racing career was heading. Already at the Sachsenring and most recently in Brno, the Bavarian had been unable to deliver the performance he’d set out to achieve with his own team. In Most, he ended up at the back of the field after Superpole. That was the last straw.

Things can’t go on like this

“A couple of weeks ago, we lost our main sponsor, who covered a good 85–90 per cent of our budget,” he explained. “As all the contracts were already in place and I’m not the sort of person to do things by halves, we’d drawn up an internal plan and tried to stick to it as best we could. I’ve got endless work at my new motorbike workshop, and the same goes for my coaching sessions. So I tried to take on as much as possible to somehow get through the season.”

“At the Sachsenring, I fell extremely ill, which dragged on for several weeks,” said Hobelsberger. “Little sleep, an enormous amount of work in the motorbike workshop and with coaching, and a huge number of hours spent in the car until the middle of the night. Then there was my own training on top of that, the tests and the races, organising all that and many other things. Not to mention the realisation that I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, as any further strain on the budget would be almost impossible to cope with.”

Withdrawal and new plans

“When I arrived in Most, ready for the first practice sessions, my mind was hardly on racing at all, but rather on everything else, just so that the 2026 season could somehow be completed. Motorcycling had almost become an afterthought, because I needed so much more energy and attention just to try and make everything work somehow. Trying, somehow, to finance the season whilst barely enjoying it at all. I was nowhere near able to perform to my best, barely able to tap into my own potential or that of the motorbike, and show where we really stood. That, too, bothered me quite a bit – that the results were nowhere near what reflected the work put in by our partners, the team and myself.”

“On Saturday after qualifying, I decided to be sensible and make a wise decision at the right time and call it a day before certain other issues came to a head,” he concludes. “It’s clearly not working properly and that’s not the path I want to take. Nor is it how I want to show the hard work and dedication that goes into this sport, or just how much my supporters and partners have backed me in my workshop. I’d love to give something back, but I can’t under these circumstances. That’s probably the hardest part of it all.”

Bye for now, and hopefully see you soon.

Patrick Hobelsberger

“A huge thank you goes to all my supporters, my whole team, my sponsors who have accompanied me this far and will continue to do so, to Honda and to Motul. I’m enormously grateful to everyone for everything they’ve done for me,” he assures us. “For me, this is the end of the line; I won’t be racing any more in the 2026 season. I don’t yet know what the future holds. What I do know, however, is that all my effort and energy will continue to be channelled into motorsport – in this case, into my motorbike workshop, where I get to live my dream every day and work with world-class customers. I’ll be expanding my coaching services, and who knows what doors might open in the future. Many thanks to everyone. Cheers, and hopefully see you soon!”