Thomas Eder and Kevin Kölsch: Debut victory ahead of World Championship debut next weekend

When it comes to motorbike racing, Thomas Eder is a real jack-of-all-trades. In 2019, the versatile German came out on top in the Superstock 600 class of the International Austrian Championship (IOEM), which was highly competitive at the time. He then went on to enjoy success as both a rider and team principal in the International German Championship (IDM), and – as he apparently still had time to spare alongside his demanding job as head of an electrical installation firm – he organises the ‘BTR-Eder Racing Events’ for ambitious amateur racers.

Since last year, Eder has taken on another challenge. During the Sidecar World Championship rounds at the Pannonia-Ring, there was plenty of banter in a convivial atmosphere, and it was agreed that he and his friend Thomas Gradinger would undertake a test ride on a sidecar at the Circuit Mallorca Llucmajor. Whilst the Austrian realised that his shoulder, battered by crashes, wouldn’t allow him to get properly to grips with the sport, the Bavarian took a fancy to it and it quickly became clear to him that he couldn’t stop at just these practice laps.

Eder ordered an ARS chassis from Adrian Kornas, which, like most teams, he fitted with a Yamaha R6 engine. This was followed by an extended testing phase, which he carried out meticulously, as was his habit from his day job. During his practice sessions, he increasingly called upon the services of Kevin Kölsch, who is one of Germany’s finest co-drivers. Kölsch brought with him the invaluable expertise of a World Championship race winner, and so lap times steadily improved whilst his confidence grew in tandem.

With the firm aim of making his World Championship debut at the “Angelo Bergamonti” circuit in Cremona on the second weekend in August, the plan was to gain the missing experience of competitive racing involving fierce wheel-to-wheel battles at the International Sidecar Trophy at the Red Bull Ring.

Eder/Kölsch: Second race, first victory

Sogar das WM-Team Cable/Druel (111) musste Eder/Kölsch den Vortritt lassen

Foto: Helmut Ohner

Topic of the week

The 2027 Formula 1 grid: Will the transfer bombshell only drop in the autumn?

Summertime, holiday season, the silly season: these are the weeks when the most outrageous driver changes are usually discussed. The big news for the 2027 season is yet to materialise.

Mathias Brunner

Read more

Even in practice, Eder/Kölsch impressed with the fifth-fastest lap time out of 26 teams. Only Josef Sattler/Luca Schmidt (ARS BMW 1000) on their brief comeback, Patrick Werkstetter/Valentin Pirat (ARS Yamaha 600), Mike Roscher/Anna Burkard (LCR BMW 1000) and Enrico Wirth/Ronja Billich (LCR Yamaha 600) were faster than the German crew on their debut. What was even more astonishing than their finishing position was the fact that the pair were less than half a second behind last year’s World Championship sixth-place finishers, Werkstetter/Pirat.

In the first race, the three-wheeler debutant still had a few lessons to learn the hard way. The MotoGP circuit, which was still damp in places following an overnight downpour, dried out steadily over the course of the seven laps; however, Eder had opted for wet tyres for safety reasons. Nevertheless, finishing fourth, the duo missed out on their first podium finish by less than a second. “It was my first race, so I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks and was a bit too cautious at the start,” the 41-year-old all-rounder told SPEEDWEEK.com.

In the second race, things went better for Eder/Kölsch on the dry track – much better, in fact. In the twelve-lap Gold Race, they battled it out with Werkstetter/Pirat for the lead in their class, with Eder exercising caution despite his willingness to take risks. “I was able to overtake them time and again from their slipstream, but I usually let them go first into the corners. On the one hand, I didn’t want to risk a collision; on the other, I wanted to see why they were faster in the two left-hand corners. Then, just as we were back in the lead, they unfortunately retired with a mechanical failure.”

Even though Eder approached the race with a great deal of self-confidence, a victory in only his second race – in which even experienced World Championship teams such as Kevin Cable/Yann Druel or Claude Vinet/Leane Marsal were left behind – was never on the cards. “We certainly wanted to be in the mix at the front, but the fact that we won did come as something of a surprise. We’re now heading to the World Championship round in Cremona feeling highly motivated. The main aim there is to gain further experience amongst the world’s elite. But secretly, I’m already hoping for a place in the top 10.”