“Difficult to say” whether new BMW M1000 RR will be a WorldSBK Ducati-beater
Shaun Muir says it’s tough to tell at the moment whether BMW’s new M1000RR will be the key to beating Ducati in WorldSBK.
A year after the introduction of Ducati’s new Panigale V4 R, BMW is set to bring a new M1000 RR to WorldSBK, but whether it will be enough to challenge the currently unbeaten Panigale is difficult to tell at the moment, according to ROKiT BMW Motorrad team principal Shaun Muir.
After 24 races in 2026, the new Panigale V4 R has won 24 times, 23 thanks to Nicolo Bulega and one from Iker Lecuona. The extent of the dominance is such that Ducati has won the manufacturers’ championship after the eighth round, before the summer break, and its factory team has won the teams’ title.
The difference between Ducati and the rest of the field is such that all-new motorcycles would seem to be the only way to close the gap without any intervention from the championship itself, but a new homologation also brings with it no guarantees.
BMW is currently the only manufacturer that is set to introduce a new model in 2027, its updated M1000 RR featuring the third generation of its M Motorsport Chassis with 30 per cent thinner frame walls, a 1.3kg weight reduction, and revised chassis stiffness.
But whether the new bike will bring BMW to Ducati’s level remains to be seen.
“It’s difficult to say,” Shaun Muir said about the new bike’s potential when speaking to the media ahead of the UK WorldSBK.
“We’ve obviously been testing a lot of the material that goes into this bike already with the test team.
“One thing is for sure, we haven’t fully exhausted the benefit and potential of the current package. [...] We’ve had so much track time missing, there’s so much we’ve left on the table still. That’s quite clear.
“I think, the circuits we’re going to arrive at where Miguel [Oliveira] hasn’t been many times before, so we need this time on the bike, and, until we can exhaust that full package of what we already have in front of us, it’s difficult to say what we’re going to get from the next one.
“All we know is that what we know is coming is better.
“For sure, we can’t sit here now and say ‘It’s going to be better electronically, or in chassis, or in powertrain’, but the package is improving and that is quite clear with the test team work we’ve been doing.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
