The works-supported BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK Team will contest its second Superbike World Championship season in 2012, with the team entering a brace of BMW S 1000 RRs for Italian riders Ayrton Badovini and Michel Fabrizio. Andrea Buzzoni, Director of BMW Motorrad Italia and manager of the Superbike project will lead the team together with Sporting Director Serafino Foti and Technical Director Gerardo “Dino” Acocella.
The factory BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team will provide engines and electronics for the RR. Furthermore, there will be an intense cooperation and a constant exchange of ideas between both teams. The BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK Team arrived on the international scene in 2010, making a more than respectable debut in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, with the BMW S 1000 RR giving a good account of itself in the hands of Ayrton Badovini, who immediately made the series his own. The Italian won nine out of the ten rounds, the majority of them emphatically. By August, three races before the end, he and BMW Motorrad Italia had clinched the title, and after their successful first international season a move into the Superbike World Championship was only a logical step.
Badovini assumed the team leader role, assuring a successful debut season for his squad. His best result was fourth place in his home race in Misano, with the Italian scoring a total of four top six finishes and regularly finishing in the top ten. Badovini placed tenth overall in the 2011 classification, having scored 165 points.
In 2012 GoldBet becomes title sponsor and will substantially contribute to the appearance of the team. In addition, BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK Team has contracted Ayrton Badovini’s compatriot Michel Fabrizio as team-mate to the Italian. The 27-year-old has contested the Superbike World Championship since 2006, scoring four wins, a further 29 podium places and one pole position.
Andrea Buzzoni is convinced: “With Michel and Ayrton it will be a good all-Italian team of riders and engineers combined with the extraordinary BMW technology. Furthermore, taking advantage of the fact that we were already involved, we began development of the new motorcycles in good time, capitalizing on last year’s experience even in terms of more resources being devoted to the project. We believe that we have the technical-sporting competence, the riders, as well as a strong and motivated team that can and must grow even more in terms of competitiveness and results. The objective is to close in regularly on the top five and to join them as often as possible.”
BMW Motorrad Italia will also contest the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. In 2011 Italian Lorenzo Zanetti and Frenchman Sylvain Barrier placed third and fourth overall in the series respectively. Barrier will again contest the Superstock 1000 Cup in 2012, with Italian Lorenzo Baroni as his team-mate