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With BMW kicking off their 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship project in Berlin with riders Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and teammate Michael van der Mark, the German manufacturer are optimistic heading into a title-defending year. BMW are introducing a new M 1000 RR model for 2025 as they look to retain their Riders’ Championship crown that Razgatlioglu won in 2024, while aiming to add the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ titles to their collection too. BMW Motorrad Technical Director, Chris Gonschor, spoke about the goals for next season while providing insight into the changes to the bike as they look to go one step further.

2024 was an unforgettable campaign for the German brand, with Razgatlioglu smashing records for the manufacturer as well as the Championship. He took 18 wins in total, including 13 on the bounce to break the record for consecutive wins in WorldSBK, while van der Mark produced a wet-weather masterclass at a soaking wet Magny-Cours for his first win in three years. With all their success, the pressure will ramp up this year as rival manufacturers look to deny them more titles.

Discussing the goals for 2025, and how a second title is often harder to win than the first, Gonschor said: “It was our mission to win in 2024 or 2025, and we did it already in 2024. For this year is clear: when you won the title, you want to defend it and repeat it, but the second title will be even harder to achieve than the first one. We have to work hard but I’m pretty sure we’re prepared for next season.”

To help them try to retain the Riders’ title and add more trophies to their collection, BMW are introducing a new version of the M 1000 RR which includes engine and aerodynamic updates. Gonschor spoke about the new road bike which features heavily revised aerodynamics as one big visible difference, but there are also changes inside the bike to help Razgatlioglu and van der Mark achieve their goals in 2025.

Providing a tech overview of the new bike, Gonschor said: “Luckily, with the new M 1000 RR with the model year in 2025, we have a new road bike as a base for sports activities. This gave us the perfect platform to improve on last year’s package. The new M 1000 RR has an optimised engine: on the street bike, it’s six horsepower more. This means there are changes in the engine which improve and make room for improvement to gain more power, durability, and linearity. On the aerodynamic side, we have a new fairing. This will be an improvement. Electronics wise, the new bike has some new sensors on it so we gain some potential here and on the chassis side, we can always improve a bit.”

Can BMW continue their success from 2024 into 2025? Find out using the WorldSBK VideoPass!