A drive motor for a suction device or a machine tool in the form of a handheld power tool or a semi-stationary machine tool, wherein the drive motor includes a stator having an excitation coil assembly and a rotor having a motor shaft, which is rotatably mounted around a rotational axis on the stator or with respect to the stator by means of a bearing assembly, wherein the rotor is received in a rotor receptacle of the stator, the inner circumference of said receptacle having grooves which extend along longitudinal axes that run parallel to the rotational axis and have insertion openings which are open towards the rotational axis and are provided for inserting excitation coils of the excitation coil assembly and are closed by groove covers, wherein the groove covers are in engagement with the engage-behind contours of the grooves at their opposite longitudinal sides, each of which extends along the longitudinal axis of the respective groove, said longitudinal axis being transverse to a transverse spacing between the longitudinal sides, and the groove covers have a wall section for covering the groove between the longitudinal sides.