Get to Know World Sportbike rider Phillip Tonn

Posted November 7, 2025

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Phillip Tonn has signed up with World Supersport 300 Championship winning Team#109 Retro Traffic Kove for 2026 in the new World Sportbike category. The German rider had a brilliant start to the season but unfortunately suffered an injury after Portimão. He rejoined the season in Magny-Cours. He showed promising results and was in fighting spirits for his 2025 team KTM Freudenberg. The German rider has had a bright career across German Championships winning multiple categories before moving up to the Spanish Championship. He competed in the Red Bull Rookies Cup as the youngest rider before competing in the Junior GP and moving to IDM. He stepped into World Supersport in 2024 while still competing in the IDM before making the full time switch this year.

We sat down with Phillip in Jerez to discuss his season and find out more about him.

What inspired you to start racing?

“It’s a crazy story at first I began with Motocross, so the off road style, and I rode, like, four, five years with the Mutocross, also German championship and I was close to go up to the European. I was really not so bad, but then I had one two big crashes, and my mom say, “We stop now, or you find something different.”  And then I go with one of my friends when I was like nine or eight years, and I go to one of our big tracks, Sachsenring. With the MotoGP, there’s two times in the year, it’s like a day for the kids who can try the small pocket bikes, just for fun. Yeah, and I go there and one of the guys they say, he looks not so bad, so bad, he has potential. I go all this way, I change across to street bikes.”

Were your family into racing?

“It’s also crazy because my family is a whole horse riding family. My dad is jumping as your horse jumping. My uncle is jumping, my mom is like the normal riding, I know what his name is. And my my mom also I have like a big horse farm. We had like 15 horses.  For my family, it’s nothing with moto cross, nothing with motorbikes.”

So how did you find it?

“One day, one of my friends for my grandma’s birthday, and his son, he was like 20 or something, and he rides motocross. And his bike stays in the garage. I go with my mom in the garage to pick up some drinks, something, and I saw the bike and I’d say, I need to sit on a bike. And after this day, my heart was full of motorbikes.  It cannot go down.”

As you said you started in motocross, what was next for you?

“I go to IDM and was for three years in the German Championship. It’s on a pocket bikes, and it’s the next year, like a little bit of a bigger than a pocket bike, but it’s smaller than a Moto3. And after these three years, I step up to Spain championship And after this, I go to the Red Bull Rookies Cup.”

How was that transition?

“Yes.  This was one of the hard times of my life and of the career, because every year the big changes it’s really, really hard to compare. And at this time I was like 10 or 11 really young at this time. And when I see it look at now, I think I was it was too fast and I was too young for this situation.”

So you wouldn’t do it again if you went back?

“I don’t know, maybe it’s better to wait a little bit or train more because I go really young in it, but I think I was too young and too fast, because after this, I really broke a little bit of the career. But it’s not a big deal now.”

How was competing in the Rookies Cup?

 ”I think Rookies was one of the hardest, but also had the most legends. I learned the most in these two years. But it was too young because I think I was maybe 12 or something and I was the youngest and the smallest.  So I remember the first year, I can’t go up on the bike. I need somebody to help me to step up on to the bike. With competing,  I rode with Pedro Acosta, David Alonso, Ivan Ortolá, [Daniel] Holgado. I rode with every rider who is in the Moto3. I rode with them in the Rookies, so for sure I was in one of the hardest years. Yeah, I cannot change for sure, I learned the most, but it was really, really hard. “ 

How did you convert what you learned there to the Supersport 300 now?

“It showed that you learn really much about the fightings because the competitive people fight really hard and then it’s more like you learn really how to fight because Rookies compares to World Championship is like nothing.  So Rookies is way more harder and then you learn how to hard fight, how to fight to the last lap to last corner, and yeah, this for sure helps me a lot because you know how it works and when you come here, it’s like nothing new. So it’s really good.”

So, you’re now in Supersport 300 and unfortunately, this year, you’ve had a bit of an injury, and it’s meant that you’ve been out for a lot of it.  But how has your mentality was coming back from that?

“It has been one of my first, one of the biggest crashes I have in my career.  And for sure it was really crazy times. I never had it so much, but it’s good, I can I made it really good to be also with the hat back in the old mindset for sure. It’s about really, really hard days after the crash, especially after the good start in Portimão, but at one time we need to put all the bad things away and only try, it’s not easy to try to get focussed on the good things, and yeah, I managed to do uit and after the first race, I show it, it goes all those ways.”

World Supersport 300 is a really close category of racers, how do you find battling with so many people so close and having to focus on so much at once?

“Yes, it’s a good question. I think the 300 is also a really difficult class because it’s everything is like in one second, 20 riders and after the last lap, the rider in 21st can also win the race if a little bit luck. It’s really, really hard at one time, but for me, my riding style is more to be in the group and fighting.  I’m not the guy who go all the way alone. I really more like it to be more in a big group with slipstream and overtaking points.”

What’s been your favourite motorsport memory so far?  

“When you get to see, when all the training, all the things getting well, well, well, and then one time it’s all the hard work pays off. It happens in Portimão but then unluckily, the next thing happen, but now I stay focussed and try to be the best of the last race.”

Speaking a little bit away from the track, what are you like away from the track?

“When I’m at home, most of the time I’m training and most time is on a motocross bike because I have a home track at home directly in front of my house.  It’s cool. This is for sure a good thing because I can ride every day if I want.  And yeah, this is a big part with what I’m doing and then, yeah, also gym, but motocross, I think is the second biggest part of the of my career or life. Music.  It’s a big part, then I go often cycling. What I find now for me is swimming. I started like three months ago, I started to get into swimming, and I really like it.”

Did swimming help with your rehab with your injury?  

“Yes, this also I tried, I think few weeks after my biggest surgery, I started to go underwater because underwater is everything is more light. And for sure you can move more [in the water] than when you go outside.  This was also a big, big part.”

Tell me about the team you have around you at the circuit.

“Yeah, I have my stepfather.  He’s one of the biggest part because he have really good experience of these things and know exactly how to train, when to train. He’s like my trainer, my manager and everything. And then I have one good friend.  I know him like five or six years. He’s coming now to every races and he’s like my personal manager and my right hand. And yeah, he’s helping me a lot with all the things around, like media stuff and meetings to remember, like everything you know and it’s good help and for me it’s easier, it’s good because then I can focus more on the things I need to do. Before the first race, me and my mom started thinking about to message Michael [Hill] to ask him help with the races and all this stuff.  And at this point, I don’t really think in my mind that he is a manager. I don’t notice, but then after the first big video call, I think, one, two hours, it’s getting a little bit in the the talk about it and then I say yes, I think we can. He’s a good guy as I remember him of the Paddock Show and all this stuff and for sure he’s doing his job good. Then I say, yeah, we can do it because, yeah, I really like it. After this thing, it really go fast in a way, and we start to make the website and all the stuff and talk to other teams.  All stuff is really, really cool and then in the summer break, he asked me to come with him to tour of the MotoAmerica races, and, yeah, it was a great experience. Also with all his knowledge there, I can meet all the big guys, all the big teams so that was really, really cool, and now I’m really happy. Now we get some good things for next year, and I am looking really forward for next year.”

How has it been having your Supersport 300 and having their support, especially with the year that you’ve had?

“Yes, it’s a good thing because Freudenberg is the only German team in the paddock, and I ride for them now three years. I love the team.  It’s been like a big family. Also, it has been good, because the only German team with the only German rider is also a good thing, but sadly, next year they move out of the World Championship. So I had to change next year, but it’s parting in a good way and yeah, we all stay friends.”

What are you trying to do next year?  

“We talked to some Supersport teams and with the price ideas what they had is amazing.  You cannot compare with all other stuff, and then we try to move to Sportbike. To get one year, more practice, one year closer to the 600, and then there’s also a step up from the 300 to 600 is really big compared to the Sportbike to the 600 and this is our plan.”

What has it been like for you being in an international paddock here and in the MotoGP?

“Yeah, it’s really cool, I can also say, when I was in a Rookies, I was always with the MotoGP paddock, and it’s really really different to this paddock because here everything is way more open, it’s way more familiar. You can go like more you want and then with Rookies and then MotoGP is not quite the same. And it is really cool also with like with the meetings, it’s like, you can live your dream. It’s not only the riding, like the meetings here, you can talk to everyone, it’s so fun for me.  I love it so much and yeah, for sure it’s really cool to have it more and I’m looking forward to be a part of the paddock of the next year and the next year.”

Quick Fire Questions

Would you rather have a win from pole or a win from back of the grid?

“Back off the grid.”

Would you rather start at the back of the grid or get a time penalty?

“Grid penalty. Yes, because then you know exactly how much you lose, because when you make a time penalty, you don’t know until the last lap, you don’t know how much you lose.  When you go from like 20 last or 25, they know how the difference, how much.”

Would you rather stay in a hotel or a motorhome?

“Motorhome, always.  I always have my motorhome here and every year, I never change because it feels quite spacey with room space and you can go in, go there and chill. Sometimes with the hotel, you need to get a car, go out of the circuit and all this stuff. It’s better than this for me.”

What’s your current hype song?  

“I really like American Rap. Also German rap. So a little rap. Maybe also some aggressive rap, makes me a little bit ready for fight, things like this. One I like is a German rapper, he makes only like German rap, German underground. Yeah, I really like LACAZETTE.”

What is more stressful for you: the five minutes before qualifying or the 5 minutes before race?

“100%, five minutes before the race. Because before the race, you’re a little bit thinking, or sometimes really excited. And before the quali is not so much.”

Would you prefer to have more corner speed or more top speed?  

“From the bike, I think  I mean, both, if you want to see both. But I think more corner speed, because when you have more corner speed, you’re also on the straight faster because of the drive.”

Would you prefer a wet or dry race?

 ”It’s a crazy point, but I think wet race. It’s a crazy point, but I see in my career.  I am always little bit afraid of the rain, but when it rains and I have to rider, and I don’t know why, but I am really good. I cannot say why. Always when it rains, I say, “oh, f*ck, I don’t want to ride in rain”, but when I go to ride, then I get in my rhythm and then, you know, I’m really good. So sometimes I prefer really rains and to try.”

Do you have a pre race ritual?  

“Always like half hour or 40 minutes before the race, I start to put my headphones on, make like my the playlist.  Then I go for like a 10, 15 minutes run, makes me fit and to stretching everything. And yeah, then I go to change and then always, sometimes I go before the race, like in the bathroom and put some cold water in the face. It’s like a restart, like a setting like now it starts everything.  And then also what I do, I always put the rights glove first. Not really with boots but when I am before on a race, for me, the important thing is to put the right gloves on before left.  I don’t know why.”

Who is your biggest sporting idol?

“I think one time is Marc Márquez, for sure, I always love him.  I was also in the Mark Márquez junior camp a long time ago. And from my motocross career, Ken Roczen 100%.”

How was the camp?

“ Yes, also a crazy part. I was the first German. And it’s been a long time since,  I don’t really remember, but it was like five or six days, I think. And then you are all with 20 other riders and you go to his camp or I know it’s a track home track from Motocross and a flat track and you get like a new bike, Motocross, I think it was the 85cc. And then you can ride five days or six days on the flat track and motocross track with Marc Márquez and Álex Márquez. “

What’s your go-to cheat meal?  

 ”I’m really into, like M&M’s peanut butter. But the good thing is, you can only can buy it in America. In Germany, we don’t have this. It’s the red thing. No peanut butter in Germany. The biggest thing is you cannot buy this, it’s good for me because I cannot buy it. It’s good for me. So I cannot eat it so much, but peanut butter when I get it, I need to finish it.”

Do you prefer racing in IDM or World SuperSport 300?

“World SuperSport 300.”