BMW has confirmed its retention of Michael van der Mark alongside Toprak Razgatlioglu for the 2025 WorldSBK season.
Van der Mark joined BMW from Yamaha for the 2021 season, meaning 2025 will be his fifth with the Bavarian marque.
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“I am very, very happy and honoured to continue with BMW,” van der Mark said on his renewal with BMW. “I am really happy that especially after the two difficult years they still have the trust in me and I think that this year’s results are showing improvements.
“I’m really happy with how the team’s working, how the BMW M1000 RR is working and how we are still improving it. So it’s fantastic to be able to stay.
“This also gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. I’m ready to keep building our momentum and be even more ready for next year.”
The Dutchman will continue alongside Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2025, the Turkish rider having joined BMW for the 2024 WorldSBK season. Razgatlioglu has made an immediate impact, having won 50 per cent of the 12 races run so far in WorldSBK this year - including all three at last weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Round - to now lead the riders’ standings by 21 points over Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega.
No Bonovo in 2025
Alongside the van der Mark announcement, BMW also confirmed that the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team - that currently run by Shaun Muir Racing and fielding the aforementioned van der Mark and Razgatlioglu - will be the only factory BMW team on the 2025 WorldSBK grid.
This is because the Bonovo Action team, which currently receives the same technical support from BMW as the SMR-run outfit and which fields Scott Redding and Garrett Gerloff, is exiting the championship due to “personal reasons” for the team’s owner, Jurgen Roder.
“I will be stepping down for personal reasons from 2025 on, and consequently, Bonovo Action will withdraw as a factory team from BMW,” Roder said. “I would like to personally thank all the fans who have remained so loyal to us, who have shared in our joys and our hard times. Many, many thanks, because without the enthusiasm of the spectators and fans, such an endeavour would not be possible.
“You are carried by the euphoria and enthusiasm, which I have enjoyed over the past years, whether in the IDM or the World Championship. It was a wonderful feeling to bring joy to others with our riders and provide entertainment and happy moments.”
BMW's confirmation that the SMR team will be the only factory entry from Bavaria next year can also be taken as confirmation that the Bonovo Action team's departure from WorldSBK means that both Redding and Gerloff are currently without rides for 2025.
