BMW has made an announcement that it will be adding two satellite teams to its World Superbike lineup come 2021, they also announced that they have signed ex-Moto GP riders Eugene Laverty and Jonas Folger.
BMW has been the only manufacturer without a satellite team in WSBK until 2020 and they had confirmed last month that talks were underway with atleast three teams to fill the gap. The German outfit has now announced that it will have two one-bike satellite teams starting on the grid in 2021. The teams will be RC Squadra Corse and Bonovo Action.
RC Squadra Corse has been a part of the World Superbike teams since 2016 and also contested for the 2020 WorldSBK championship. Eugene Laverty had been dropped from the BMW factory team to give way to Yamaha’s Michael Van der Mark and will now be racing for RC Squadra Corse while remaining as BMW’s official test rider.
Bonovo Action on the other hand contested for only two rounds in the 2020 WSBK season with Jonas Folger riding Yamaha YZF-R1 but will now switch to BMW M1000 R for the 2021 season.
“Cooperation with satellite teams represents another important step for our involvement in the FIM Superbike World Championship”, says Markus Schramm, Director of BMW Motorrad.
“It is great to have two more BMW M 1000 RRs in the field alongside the two motorbikes from our works teams, the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team with riders Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark. I would like to extend a warm welcome to the two satellite teams in our WorldSBK project.”
“The Bonovo Action Team with Jonas Folger is the first German team to register to compete in the WorldSBK with a Bavarian rider on a Bavarian motorbike. That is a special combination.”
“I am also delighted that Eugene Laverty will remain an integral member of our BMW family, applying his talents and his knowledge of BMW superbikes in our satellite team RC Squadra Corse, newly formed but already well known in the World Superbike paddock.”
BMW failed to finish on the podium this season, which concluded last month at Estoril in Portugal, with Tom Sykes’ run to fifth in Barcelona Race 2 its best result of the season.
Laverty led a 1-2 for BMW in a wet Superpole at Magny-Cours, but both riders were eliminated at the start of Race 1 in an incident with the GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff.
