Bonovo action is withdrawing from the WorldSBK at the end of the 2024 season
The German team’s four-year adventure in the Superbike World Championship will end at the end of the year.
In 2020, the Bonovo action Team, which was already active in Sidecar racing, joined forces with MGM Racing Performance and immediately achieved resounding success in the 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 active racing, caused much cheering among the team around Bonovo action Team Owner Jürgen Röder and Team Manager Michael Galinski.
The success story continued with a permanent entry into the Superbike World Championship and a new partnership with BMW Motorrad Motorsport in 2021. Although Folger had a difficult debut year in the WSBK, the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team continued to develop and started their second WorldSBK year with Eugene Laverty and Loris Baz in the highest class of production racing motorcycles. While Laverty ended his long and successful active career after the 2022 finale and took on a leading role in the 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 the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team in Magny-Cours, France, and finished fourth in both races, Baz did 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 Jürgen Röder decided after careful consideration that Bonovo action BMW Racing would end the Superbike World Championship adventure at the end of this year for personal reasons.
Jürgen Röder, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team Owner
“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 the IDM or the 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 under our 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 signs of life from our side this season. My thanks also goes to BMW. BMW has always been a fair and very reliable partner who has supported us in everything, including this year, when we are getting 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.”
