Andreas Kofler: A policeman in the Supersport World Championship

As in the Supersport World Championship we see an increasing number of newcomers from the Moto3 or Moto2 world championships, or from MotoJunior, 2026 also represents the first full year on the world stage for a young Austrian rider, who reached the WorldSSP after winning twice the German IDM Supersport Championship. Andreas Kofler, riding a Yamaha R9 for family-run Motorsport Kofler racing team.

With ten wins and nine further podium finishes out of 28 races in total, 2024 and 2025 were incredible years for Kofler and the step up to World Supersport was kind of a natural move for him and his team. The 2026 season is proving to be a big challenge, but both the rider and the Austrian squad are working hard to learn, close the gap to the front and, hopefully, score some valuable world championship points.

Palmen in Motorradsport interviewed Andreas Kofler to talk about the 2026 campaign and his journey up to here.

Andreas, how is the 2026 season going? And what are your goals for this year?

The season so far has been quite tough, because the world championship is something new for me and my team, and the bike is new as well, since we moved from the Yamaha R6 to the R9. We didn't have a lot of test days, just three or four days before the season started. And so we have a big gap to the other teams. Regarding the goal, we simply want to learn and grow over the season.

Are you satisfied with how the season's been so far?

It's difficult to say so, because until now the results were quite shit and I had a few crashes. But I know this is part of the process of learning the bike. The highlight so far definitely was the Superpole in Most, where I was just 0.9 seconds off the pole position, but in that case I had the advantage of knowing the track from the past years.

Your first season in the world championship comes after being German Supersport Champion for two years in a row. What can you say about those two seasons?

They were two great seasons. We started our own team right in 2024 and we went in the IDM season without big expectations, because we didn't know how the team could be running. But, incredibly, we did a great job and immediately won the championship.
And the first title was impressive, absolutely, but the second one was special. We made a big step forward with the bike and when riding it, I could do everything I wanted and had no big problems. I got injured in a big crash at Schleiz, but even the injury didn't break me down and during the whole season I was always in front, also scoring six poles out of seven rounds. That season was almost perfect.

Would you have expected all this only two years ago?

No. In 2024 we were fighting with riders like Dirk Geiger, Twan Smits and Luca De Vleeschauwer, who are incredibly fast, and I didn’t expect to be fighting for the championship with them. However, in the middle of the season we saw that our speed was good and we could fight with them, and that’s when we started believing that we were in contention for the title. In 2025, on the other hand, we definitely expected to win again, and we made it.

How different is the Yamaha R9 from the R6?

At the beginning of the season, I thought the difference was not that big. But in the end it is, because the R9 is longer and smaller than the R6, so the bike is tough for me to ride compared to the R6, due to the different geometry. The R6 was easy to ride, was not that difficult to go fast. I just need to get to know the R9 a bit better.

Moving to how everything started for you, can you tell us about the start of your career?

I started riding motorbikes when I was three years old, because my father and my brother were riding motorbikes. I kind of had no decision, I had to start riding too (laughs, ed). My brother Maximilian (a former Moto3 and Supersport World Championship rider, ed) and me did motocross and supermotard for many years, but it changed in 2017: my brother decided to move to road racing, and so did I. He was riding in Italy, in CIV Moto3, while me, I was in the ADAC Junior Cup, but both on our own and with only our family behind.

However, in 2018 Max moved to the Moto3 Junior World Championship, in the CEV paddock, and it wasn’t possible to split the family between me racing in Germany and him racing in Spain, so I went to Spain as well and made my debut in the European Talent Cup, again in CEV (now MotoJunior, ed).

How was your time in the European Talent Cup?

It was tough. When I look at the results and at the riders who were competitive back then, I realize I raced against guys like Izan Guevara, Fermin Aldeguer, David Alonso, Dani Holgado…Riders who are now in Moto2 and MotoGP. Anyway, I did two years ETC, but already in 2019, in my second season, I was way too big for the bike and struggled a lot with my body.

That’s why I moved to the 600cc in 2020: I switched to the Stock 600 class (which, in CEV, raced back then together with Moto2, ed) and I was riding again with Fermin Aldeguer, who won the title in that year. After that year, we realized that the IDM Supersport was great as well and much nearer for us, so we moved there and I rode for Roman Raschle and the Kawasaki Schnock team.

Do you think sometimes about the fact that you were riding against people who are now in the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP World Championships, and you took another direction?

Yes, I do. The biggest reason why I followed a different path is for sure the nationality. In Austria, we have no support from the country and it’s hard to find sponsors. I think that when you're like Italian or Spanish, it's easier to stay in a Grand Prix paddock or stay in Spain. After 2020, we had two options: IDM Supersport or European Moto2. The latter was too expensive for one season, so in the end we went to the IDM.

And you were fast already in your first year.

In 2021 there was still the stock regulation in IDM, so for me it was a good year to learn also how to ride the Kawasaki. Then in 2023 they moved to the same regulations as the world championship, and that’s when I moved to Yamaha. I got familiar with the R6, got closer and closer to the front and then, in 2024, we decided to start our own team and we also got good material from Yamaha Germany. That was decisive to make the step we made.

At this stage what's your goal for the future?

This year I just want to learn, without looking much at the results. For sure it would be nice to score points, but the priority is to learn and focus on 2027. Next year I will have a better knowledge of the bike, the championship and the tracks and there the goal will be to score points consistently and possibly reach the top 10. On the long term, instead, I want to become a world champion one day, in any category.

Apart from motorcycle racing, what are your main hobbies, interests?

I think I'm the only one in the WorldSBK paddock, or at least in World Supersport, who is doing a full-time job next to racing. I'm a police officer in my hometown. After any race weekend, I need to go straight home, because I need to work on Monday. I recently passed my exam to enter the police, and for a short while I've been out on the streets.

It’s good to have a parallel career outside of racing. But how can you balance everything?

It's quite difficult to do it, because I have a full-time job that takes around 40 or 50 hours per week. Apart from that, I need to train whenever I can, prepare for the races and actually go to the races. It’s a lot of stuff, but today I'm quite happy that it's running like this.

In conclusion, would you like to thank anyone in particular for what you have experienced so far?

For sure I want to say huge thanks to all the team and especially to my father and my mom, who are running the team and organizing everything. I am also very grateful to all the people working in the crew: they all are friends of ours and they are there because they support us and believe in the project, without asking for money. Huge credit to all of them, they really deserve it.

Palmen in Motorradsport thanks Andreas Kofler for his time, and wishes him and his team all the best for the next races and seasons.