The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads to Aragon this weekend for the Tissot Aragon Round but headlines are already being made off-track with regards to 2024. Scott Redding will move out of his current factory BMW seat and across to to the Bonovo Action BMW outfit to partner Garrett Gerloff, thus confirming Michael van der Mark as Toprak Razgatlioglu’s 2024 teammate.
After what had been a major period of speculation regarding the line-up across the 2024 seating arrangements at BMW, good friends Razgatlioglu and van der Mark will spearhead the German manufacturers’ efforts. Both were race winners as teammates for Yamaha, and that winning combination is something that BMW hope will drive their project to new heights.
As for the Bonovo Action BMW team, Scott Redding will replace Loris Baz and join Garrett Gerloff, who he is battling with in 2023 for top BMW honours. Gerloff took the manufacturer’s first pole for 2 years last time out at Magny-Cours, whilst securing a double top five in the races. For Scott Redding, his best result of the year has been fourth place, at home at Donington Park.
Dr. Markus Schramm, Director of BMW Motorrad, stated his excitement and emphasised that all four riders and both teams will have equal support and material from the factory itself: “Four great BMW Motorrad factory riders in our two strong BMW teams – with this new allocation, we are set up superbly for the WorldSBK season 2024. Scott Redding is a great racer and we appreciate that he is staying true to our BMW Motorrad World Superbike project by bringing his skills to bear in the Bonovo Action BMW team. His experience, speed and expertise in particular, will be a key component as we optimise our collective goals together with Garrett Gerloff and the whole team. The addition of Toprak Razgatlioglu allows us to distribute our factory riders perfectly across our two competitive teams. Together with Michael van der Mark in the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, we have the ideal line-up for the overall project.”
Schramm continued to analyse BMW’s line-up and how important it is that a stronger link between the factory and the teams will translate into on-track success: “Collaborating closely with our BMW Motorrad Motorsport engineers, both teams will use the feedback from the riders to make continuous, collective improvements to the motorbike. We also believe that having two teams with top riders will also raise the internal competitive pressure. That also helps to lift the overall performance levels. We are convinced that this new line-up for riders and teams represents another important step as we move closer to the top of WorldSBK with our project. Finally, I would like to thank Loris Baz for our collaboration. He will leave the World Superbike project after the end of the current season. After two seasons that he contested for the Bonovo Action BMW team, we wish him all the best for the future.”
- From WorldSBK.com
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