WSBK silly season

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JFM01 said:
Bonovo wipl not longer compete as an "independent" team, Gerloff will stay at Bonovo and vdM will be Toprak's teammate.
Click to expand...
I wonder why the are keeping VDM... If it was just a case of Redding wanting out, I find it surprising that he is still staying on a BMW. Maybe it's just that they don't want to pay 2 massive salaries?
I must admit I'm a bit underwhelmed by this news (Redding going to Bonovo)
 
Not exactly sure how the WSBK homologation papers work or the designation of factory/reference vs independent team, but.........

Maybe having two "factory" teams allows BMW to take development in multiple directions at the same time. If Bonovo and Rockit are treated as separate factories under the rules, they might be to homologate different racing kits, including separate swingarms, etc. If Bonovo and Rockit are both reference teams, it means Redding will not be detuned based upon Toprak's results or vise versa, not that any detuning is foreseeable for the hapless German team, but you get the gist.

Maybe BMW will literally be running two completely separate factory efforts with different homologations and engine tuning maps and more. If so, I wonder what is stopping other manufacturers. Maybe BMW qualifies under super concessions?
 
JFM01 said:
Speedweek reports Bassani to Kawasaki is a done deal, he and his manager were seen leaving the Kawasaki hospitality with a smile on their face yesterday evening.
I guess Mike Rinaldi will likely end up at Motocorsa now.
https://www.speedweek.com/sbk/news/213163/Kawasaki-Der-Nachfolger-von-Jonathan-Rea-steht-fest.html
Click to expand...

Not surprised. Ducati has a clique vibe. They like certain people and they don't like others. Bassani has always been on the outside looking in at the organization, and he doesn't bring any money with him. Rinaldi is above Bassani on the pecking order, maybe someone like Petrucci is too, and Bulega is apparently above Rinaldi and Petrucci, at the moment.

Bassani's best bet was to go somewhere else. Ducati seemed to take offense when he tangled with Rinaldi. Classic Ducati.
 
Great news for Bassani, he will get great support but the bike is perhaps a tad slower than his current bike.

Guessing the bike performance order for 2024 including the skills of the contracted riders
  1. Ducati
  2. Yamaha (a very close 2nd)
  3. = Kawaski & BMW
  4. Honda
 
As anticipated
1694860559580.png
 
mikesbytes said:
Bimota needs to produce 250 bikes with an Euro44k price tag to Homologate for 2025 and an additional 500 for 2026. There's doubt that they are going to make that quota
Click to expand...

I believe those are the Supersport homologation quantities. SBK is 125, 250, and 500, IIRC.

Bimota won't reach the production quota because they don't have a bike to homologate. The KB4 uses a larger engine, and the TESI doesn't meet the price regulations. Bimota will probably race a rebranded ZX-10RR, and they will work on chassis development with KRT. Bimota is a legitimate serial manufacturer so I presume they will build the ZX-10RR race bikes per KRT's spec.

Short-term: Bimota is Kawasaki's Corse division, imo, and Kawasaki/Bimota maybe sell a few race bikes to race teams in other national series. Long-term: Bimota will develop their own bikes and homologate them. I think WSBK is going to move towards homologating race bikes and keeping the cost under €100,000
 

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