Bimota Out of the 2014 Superbike World Championship

The two-bike Bimota team, which campaigned the new BMW S1000RR-powered BB3 in the FIM Superbike World Championship, wasn't at Jerez last weekend, and it will not compete in the final two rounds of the 2014 championship, at Magny Cours in France and Losail in Qatar.

Prior to last weekend’s races at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, Bimota owners Daniele Longoni and Mario Chiancianesi made the announcement, thanking Team Alstare owner Francis Battà for making the BB3 competitive in a very short time. Moreover, they thanked the FIM and Dorna for allowing the BB3 to race even though Bimota had not completed the mandatory 125 units requested for homologation. For the record, riders Ayrton Badovini and Christian Iddon were allowed to race, but they were never credited with the points that their finishing positions would have granted them, so they do not appear in the 2014 SBK standings.

The new Bimota BB3 was designed and built according to the new EVO regulations that will come into force next year. These rules are intended to bring SBK machinery back to standards much closer to the real production bikes. If credited with the points he “earned,” Badovini would have been second in the SBK EVO standings prior to the latest round in Spain.

Longoni and Chiancianesi say their decision was made to place full priority on the completion of the mandatory 125 motorcycles for homologation. To date, Bimota has completed and delivered 30 BB3s. Components to build the remaining 95 are already on the shelves, while BMW should be in the process of delivering the S1000RR engines because the German company already has the banking guarantees.