That the BMW wanting to enter MotoGP is certainly no mystery. But there is first a very specific objective to be achieved in order to then enter the Top Class of the MotoGP, that is to win in SBK, and in this sense the hiring of Toprak Razgatlioglu and the formation of the test team with Sylvain Guintoli and Bradley Smith should be understood .
This is what the CEO of BMW declared in an interview last May 8th “There is no way for me to progress without first having been successful, and that’s what I’ve said since day one. It is our duty to win in Superbike. At the same time we can prepare for other moves, but the final choice will only happen if we are winners” and since then the situation has remained the same, even if in the last few days some more clues seem to indicate that something is moving…
BMW and the manufacturers that can enter MotoGP
The current situation: Toprak at Rossi’s Ranch and Rossi with BMW in the WEC…
Flasch himself, before the May interview, had confirmed contacts with Dorna for entry into MotoGP in 2027, thanks also to the new regulations of the Premier Class (850 cc engines, rear aerodynamics the same for all, reduction of front aerodynamics and no lowerers) but until then the diktat is always the same… win in SBK and then think about MotoGP.
In the meantime, some clues would suggest that BMW is working under the radar on the MotoGP project in view of 2027. First of all, Valentino Rossi races in the WEC and GTWC with BMW and for the Bavarian company it could be his MotoGP team that manages the BMWs once the contract currently in place with Ducati ends.
The second clue was the presence of Toprak Razgatlioglu at Valentino Rossi’s Ranch on the sidelines of the Misano Adriatico tests. And his presence in that context is not said to be totally coincidental, the Turk will certainly be the next guest invited to the 100 km of Champions and because Rossi’s Ranch is the ideal training ground for improving control of the motorbike in situations of poor grip, which is necessary a lot in MotoGP.
BMW and MotoGP, from the first prototypes to the sole engine for the CRTs
The history between BMW and the MotoGP began in the early 2000s when the Bavarian company returned to Formula 1 with the V10 that equipped the Williams of Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button. In the same period, the MotoGP introduced the regulations for the following years, and specifically that of 2002 when the 990 4Ts will enter to replace the 500 2Ts. In Monaco we are studying the possibility of deriving an engine from the Formula 1 engine for a motorbike destined for the next premier class of the MotoGP. With the help ofIng Forghieri and Orala three-cylinder engine was born (like that of the Aprilia RS Cube) which would then be installed on a frame and then tested on the track in the following years by Luca Cadalora for a possible entry into MotoGP only in 2006.
In 2005 everything was ready for entry into MotoGP the following year. Bad luck would have it that year the new regulation will come into force which will lower the displacement of the motorbike from 2007 from the current 990 cc to 800 cc, effectively sanctioning the death of the first BMW-Oral prototype. Once the first prototype was “dead”, BMW commissioned Forghieri to create a second prototype according to the canons of the new 2007 regulation. The basis was the same as the first prototype, i.e. a three-cylinder of 797 cc and over 210 hp of power, the bike around that engine weighed 135 kg dry, 5 kg less than the regulation required for the three cylinders, 140 kg. Out of the blue, however, BMW decides to abort the MotoGP project to enter SBK in 2009 with the S1000RR.
BMW, however, does not give up and puts one foot back in the MotoGP as a CRT engine manufacturer in the two-year period 2012-2013 and more precisely both with the Suter-BMW of the Ioda team led by Danilo Petrucci who with the BQR of the Blusense team with rather modest results.
