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Bonovo Action to withdraw from WorldSBK at the end of 2024 season

Monday, 17 June 2024 08:27 GMT

The German team's four-year adventure in the Superbike World Championship will come to an end at the end of the year

The Bonovo action BMW team will withdraw from the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the end of the current season, bringing an end to four seasons in the production-based Championship. Initially joining WorldSBK in 2020 with Yamaha before switching to BMW for 2021, the team have secured some good results in their short stint including pole position for Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) in the 2023 French Round.

In 2020, Bonovo action, which was already active in Sidecar racing, joined forces with MGM Racing Performance and immediately achieved resounding success in International German Motorcycle championship (IDM). Jonas Folger, who dominated every race of the season without exception and celebrated the IDM Superbike title early on in his return to racing, caused much cheering among the team around Bonovo action Team Owner Jurgen Roder and Team Manager Michael Galinski.

The story of success continued with a permanent entry to World Superbike and a new partnership with BMW Motorrad Motorsport in 2021. Although Folger had a difficult debut year in WorldSBK, the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team continued to develop and started their second WorldSBK year with Eugene Laverty and Loris Baz in the top class of production-based racing bikes. While Laverty ended his long and successful active career after the 2022 finale and took on a leading role in Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, Baz continued his upward trend together with Bonovo action BMW Racing.

In 2023, Texan Garrett Gerloff started alongside the Frenchman. Both talents pushed themselves to surprising heights. While Gerloff secured a first pole position for Bonovo action BMW Racing Team in Magny-Cours, France, and finished fourth in both races, Baz had his best race in Imola, Italy, where he finished ninth in the second race.

Scott Redding replaced Baz this year and experienced a rather difficult start to the 2024 campaign alongside Gerloff, although both riders had already achieved several top 10 results. After four of the 12 planned WorldSBK events this year, team owner Jurgen Roder decided after careful consideration that Bonovo action BMW Racing would end the WorldSBK adventure at the end of this year for personal reason

Explaining the decision, Roder said: "I will be leaving for personal reasons from 2025 and Bonovo action is therefore withdrawing as a factory team from BMW. I would like to personally thank all the fans who have stuck with us so loyally, who have been happy with us but also suffered with us. Thank you very much, because without the enthusiasm of the spectators and fans such a commitment would not be possible. You are carried by the euphoria and enthusiasm, and I have enjoyed that in recent years, whether in IDM or World Championship. It was a nice feeling to delight other people with our riders and to provide entertainment and happy hours.

"Then I would like to thank our entire team headed by team manager Michael Galinski, who have always done an excellent job. We hope that we can make a difference this year too. We are doing everything we can to move forward, and we hope that we can still show some strong signs of life from our side this season. My thanks also go to BMW. BMW has always been a fair and very reliable partner who has supported us in everything, including this year, when we are receiving the same material as our colleagues at SMR, so we are actually equipped accordingly. BMW and especially Marc Bongers deserve my most heartfelt thanks for their support over the years. He has been with us through the highs and lows and has motivated us during the lows and helped us looking forward. I think that cannot be valued highly enough. At the same time, I would like to thank our sponsors for their loyalty and strong support over the last few years. I wish all the teams in the entire WorldSBK paddock all the best for the future, always an accident-free ride, that is the most important thing of all, and of course much success for everyone."

Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Sporting Director added: "We regret Jurgen Roder’s decision not to continue his involvement in WorldSBK, but at the same time we understand it. We would like to thank the entire Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, Jurgen Roder and team manager Michael Galinski, who led the team with a lot of heart and passion, the riders, the technicians and mechanics, and everyone else involved for the great and professional cooperation over the past few years. Now we will continue to give it our all to be successful together in the remaining races of this season and to achieve strong results."

Taking to social media after the news went public, Redding said: “Thank you for the opportunity of bringing me into such a lovely team. It will always be like a family on and off the track!”

Gerloff also went on Instagram and posted: “Really sad about this, been one of the best teams I’ve had the privilege to be part of. But we’re still in this until the end of the year! Gonna give it my all until the very end!”

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