At BMW’s headquarters in Munich, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team officially launched their 2013 Superbike and Superstock 1000 FIM Cup title bids, after BMW announced last season that they would handing over their SBK racing efforts to BMW Italia.
The team will be fielding Maro Melandri - who won six races last year and finished third overall and Chaz Davies in World Superbikes on the lighter BMW HP4 which is based on the S1000RR, while Sylvain Barrier will try to defend his Superstock title and he’ll be joined by South African rider Greg Gildenhuys.
Stephan Schaller, President of BMW Motorrad said, “Motorsport will once again play a major role for BMW Motorrad this year. 2012 was by far our most successful season to date in the FIM Superbike World Championship. With six wins, 18 podiums, six fastest laps, the second place overall in the Manufacturers’ Championship and the title win in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, BMW Motorrad established itself as one of the top teams in the series. With this strong position as a basis, we have realigned our works commitment for the coming season. I am more than confident that we can achieve our goals with the new structure, experienced team management, and works riders Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.These goals are to firmly establish ourselves among the top teams at the pinnacle of production-based motorsport in the long term, and to claim as many wins and podiums as possible.”
“Our close cooperation is the key to have a competitive package. We are one team and we have a continuous information flow. The bike is a complex package, any change to the engine or the electronics has an impact on the chassis and vice versa. My role is to steer the information flow. We plan the development process according to the riders’ feedback and requests as well as to the current competitive situation,” said technical director Andrea Dosoli.
from TWOWHEELSBLOG
