BMW “have to work hard” to defend WorldSBK title

BMW’s 2024 WorldSBK title will be harder to defend than it was to win, according to the Bavarian brand’s technical director, Chris Gonschor.

BMW won the riders’ title in 2024 – its first of any kind in WorldSBK – thanks to a dominant season from Toprak Razgatlioglu, who won 18 of 36 races last season. But the title came ahead of schedule for BMW, whose target was to be World Champions by the end of 2025.

“For sure it was our mission to win in 2024 or 2025,” Gonschor told WorldSBK.com.

“We did it already in 2024, so the mission for next year is clear: when you’ve won the title, you want to defend it and you want to repeat it; but the second title will be even harder to achieve than the first one.

“So, we have to work hard but I’m pretty sure we are [well] prepared for next season.”

To defend the title won in 2024, BMW has a new homologation of its M1000 RR in 2025, coming with adjustments to the frame, aerodynamics, and updates to the engine.

“The new M1000 RR has an optimised engine, on the street bike it’s 6bhp more, so this means there are changes in the engine which improve and make room for improvement to gain more power, more durability, more linearity,” Gonschor explained.

“On the aerodynamics side, we also have a new fairing, so it will be improved on this topic. Electronic-wise, the new bike has some new sensors on it, so we gain some potential in this area, and on the chassis side we can always improve a bit.”

According to Gonschor, the first impression from BMW’s riders, Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark, was positive when they tried the bike for one day at Jerez in December.

“Luckily they had a smile on their faces, so it was a very good first impression, but like always the first test with a new bike, a new specification of engine and the whole bike package gives you also some homework and questions,” Gonschor said.

“So, overall they saw the potential of the bike that makes an improvement compared to last year, but nevertheless you have to work hard to gain every improvement in every aspect, and we need a [few] more tests to be perfectly prepared for Phillip Island.”

The remainder of the 2025 testing programme for BMW faces a degree of uncertainty due to an injury picked up by Razgatlioglu while training, forcing him out of this week’s test in Jerez, the first of this calendar year.

That will put more workload on van der Mark, Gonschor explained: “He [Razgatliogu] will miss the Jerez test, but we are very confident that he is fully back to fitness at the latest in Phillip Island, we have no doubts.

“There is a little bit more work to do now for Mickey, but Mickey proved at the end of the season that he’s capable to do the same outcome results and lap times; so he will give us the important feedback.

“Both of them always work together, this time Mickey will do a bit more than Toprak, and Toprak is keen to jump on the bike and to listen to Mickey to see what he will say after Jerez.”