This super efficient small team that absolutely dominated the 2010 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup (Effectively the World Championship for this class) will graduate to the World Superbike Championship for the 2011 season. Champion rider Ayrton Badovini won 8 of the 9 races on his way to this year’s Superstock 1000 title, and will make his debut in the senior class joined by Brit James Toseland, the 2004 and 2007 World Superbike Champion.

In 2010, BMW Motorrad Italia demonstrated a remarkable ability to develop the S 1000 RR, BMW’s super sportbike for SuperStock 1000 racing at the world level, in the face of tough competition from experienced teams running Italian and Japanese machines. In addition to Superbike, the team will return to defend its title in 2011 with Italian rider Lorenzo Zanetti.

The Italian team will be led by Andrea Buzzoni, Director of BMW Motorrad Italia and Manager of the Superbike project; Serafino Foti, who will serve as Sporting Director; and Gerardo Acocella as Technical Director.

Moto123.com met with Sporting Director Serafino Foti at the last round of the 2010 World Superstock 1000 series, at Magny-Cours in France this past September. He gave no indication at the time of the team’s passage to Superbike, and lauded his one-rider (At the time) team’s ability to extract the maximum out of the S 1000 RR quickly.

World Superbike racing is a significant technical step beyond SuperStock 1000, and the BMW Italia team will receive technical support, engines and electronics from the official BMW Motorrad Motorsport factory team. The S 1000 RR is recognized as the most powerful bike in Superbike racing, and the senior team is working hard at maintaining that advantage while preserving the effectiveness of the rear tire over a full race distance. Doubling the number of top level riders aboard BMWs will certainly produce more useful information and should help turn the S 1000 RR into a regular podium visitor in the coming season.