Tobias Ebster, welcome to the Hero Motosports rally team!
Austrian GP2 class star was voted “Best Rookie” at 2024 Dakar Rally, blazed to a 9th place overall finish at this year’s Dakar – as a privateer! Now Hero Motosports rally team member!
With an FIM World Rally-Raid Championship “Best Rookie” award from the 2024 Dakar Rally, coupled with a top ten (9th) overall finish at this year’s Dakar Rally, Austria’s Tobias Ebster was certainly gaining the attention of the main teams challenging for the WRRC’s Manufacturer’s Title, and in particular, the Hero Motosports Rally Team, fueled by Monster Energy.
Wishing to bolster its already powerful roster that features defending WRRC GP class overall champion, Ross Branch, along with veteran great Jose “Nacho” Cornejo, Hero recently made the move to add Ebster, 27, who’ll compete beginning this weekend in the GP2 class at the inaugural South African Safari Rally aboard the Monster Energy M-claw shod Hero Rally 450.
The 2022 FIM Bajas World Cup winner in Dubai, Ebster would also capture the GP2 class victory at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge that same year. Winning in the WRRC’s “Road to Dakar” would qualify him for the Dakar Rally the following year, to which he teamed with his uncle, MX and rally-raid great Heinz Kinigadner, and was named “Best Rookie” in his first Dakar effort.
Battling through some injuries, Ebster placed 5th in GP2 at the last Rally du Maroc with KTM, which brought him to 2025 and a 2nd place GP2 finish at Dakar, followed by another podium finish (3rd) in the GP2 class at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Ebster leads the GP2 class following the first two rounds of action.
Monster Energy caught up with Ebster to get his take on the appointment to the Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy, program, what it’ll be like teaming with defending WRRC GP champ Branch and the veteran Cornejo, and how he views the competing on the Hero Rally 450 for the remaining races of the 2025 WRRC calendar.
Monster Energy: Tobias! Welcome to the Monster Energy family. We’re pumped to have you on board.
Tobias Ebster: Thank you! I’m pleased to be on board.
ME: Talk about growing up in Austria. Did you ski or snowboard growing up? Play any other sports? And did you race much motocross prior to getting involved with enduro-style dirt bike racing?
TE: I was racing little bit in skiing, but nothing too serious as I preferred more to make backflips (laughter). But I can do both, yeah. I tried a few different things like tennis, soccer, downhill mountain bikes, motocross, ski jumping, skateboarding, in-line skating… golf. But mostly I’ve been doing motocross since I was four years old. I was not too bad, but way too bad to be a professional (laughter). I knew I needed to go in a different way if I wanted to make money with it. And next to that I had a lot of jobs growing up in Austria, at the same time I was racing. Jobs like a mechanical engineer, which I’ve done for the last six years. And also night shift jobs, delivering pizzas, washing dishes. I was also a carpenter, plumber, gardener, taxi driver. I tried to do everything to go in the right direction.
ME: Has it hit you yet that, in just a week from now, you’ll be in the start chute aboard a Monster Energy-emblazoned Hero Motosports 450 Rally for the inaugural South African Safari Rally?
TE: No, definitely not! I still can’t believe what is going on. But what I truly know is that I am just so thankful and grateful for being in this position now and that I get to raise the Monster Energy and Hero Motosports flag as high as I can.
ME: You’ve come a long way in a relatively short amount of time with rally racing. Discuss your path on how you got started racing enduro dirt bikes and what led you to a position on one of the premier teams competing in the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship.
TE: In 2018, when I first got asked if I want to try out rally riding, my grandpa, who raised me, up got cancer and suddenly died. We HAD THE FUNERAL FOR HIM THIS PAST December. And I talked so much with him and the things he told just made a click in my head and I quit my job. Then suddenly the Corona virus came and I had to wait over a year longer. So I worked my ass off in several jobs and went to training and races next to it. The first race was the Hellas Rally and it went so good. I finished 2nd overall out of 364 competitors. I just went step by step and tried to stick to one gameplan. Then came the Dubai Baja World Cup Final to get free entry at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2023. There it was the same thing; win the Desert Challenge to get free entry for Dakar. The goal was always clear; In order to get to Dakar was for me to win and receive free entry. That’d be the only way I could afford it. And even then I would just have a tent and a toolbox for my motorcycle there.
So I managed to complete a strategic gameplan by winning all those events in the category, which I needed to do. It helped me to achieve 20th place overall and the Malle Moto winner (Ironman class, your bike, toolbox and a tent), best rookie and so on. And all this just because I had a plan. I did not know how to do it, but just how to follow the plan.
ME: In your first Dakar Rally, as a privateer, you placed in the top 20. An impressive performance that you followed up this season with a 9th place finish. Discuss Dakar and how that’s helped you move from privateer to factory racer.
TE: Since my great first Dakar I was honestly really scared about the next step. I was not really sure if I could go to that last step to have the speed of the top guys. I started more mental training after last year’s Dakar. Brain Booster really helped me to clear out so many unnecessary things. We still work together and since that I felt different. At the start as I said I was really nervous, but after a few days I really saw that the hard work I put in is paying off.
ME: You come to the Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy, team with a mechanical engineering background. Do you feel your mechanical smarts will help you a great deal when conveying ideas as a racer to the team’s mechanics?
TE: Yes, I think so. I got accepted for Malle Moto straight away because I have this degree. Now, in general, it’s not that much anymore. But I know what it’s like to program a CNC machine (laughter). What helped me more was the years of not having money for a mechanic, so the mechanic had to be myself a lot of time. And that helped me a lot the last year and also with communicating with the team.
ME: That’s excellent. You race the Rally 2 category at WRRC. Can you compare that to the premier WRRC division your Hero teammates, Ross Branch and Nacho Cornejo, contest?
TE: Now there is not that much difference between myself and my teammates. Yes, I start in Rally 2 (GP2) for the remaining rounds cause we want to be world champions. I know I have a lot of work to do since I signed with Hero. There is not that big difference, but I know my job is to focus on the GP2 World Championship standings.
ME: This is all happening pretty quick. Have you set any goals for the remaining WRRC races this season?
TE: I wanna let it come to me. I know I can ride a bike fast, but I also know that experience is everything in rally. My biggest goal is going through the season without any major problems or injuries. And just try to be consistent and smart . But yes, the GP2 championship is definitely my goal.
ME: Thanks for your time, Tobias. We look forward to following your racing next week/weekend in South Africa. Best of luck to you from everyone at Monster Energy!
TE: My pleasure. I wanna thank you all for the warm welcome. Monster energy is really a brand that I look up to since I was a little kid. And connecting this with an incredible team like Hero Motosports is for sure a dream come true. But now… let the work begin.
