BMW Restructures Its Superbike Activities

BMW Motorrad revealed that it "will continue its Superbike World Championship involvement," and compete with one factory team at the start of '13, according to MOTORSPORT-TOTAL.com. The company is also carrying out a realignment and pooling of its superbike activities. BMW Motorrad Italia will "take responsibility for the factory race and test team as well as for chassis development." BMW Motorrad in Munich will be "entirely responsible for developing the power train and electronics." BMW Motorrad Head Stephan Schaller said, "Our decision represents a commitment by BMW Motorrad to motorsports. We have developed this commitment from a position of strength. The Superbike World Championship will continue to be the right platform for BMW Motorrad to demonstrate our expertise as a manufacturer of sports motorcycles in close proximity to customers." Schaller continued, "The new structure with the focus on one racing team is lean and efficient, the concept is targeted and logical. We are looking forward to being in a position to develop the existing structures in Munich and Milan." Team name, management positions and rider line-up for '13 will be announced later (MOTORSPORT-TOTAL, 7/16).

YAMAHA: MOTOR AUTHORITY reported that Yamaha Factory Racing has named Italian-based BM Group as its new official sponsor through the '14 season of MotoGP competition (MOTOR AUTHORITY, 7/13).