BMW has announced Eugene Laverty will transition to a managerial role within the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team for the 2023 WorldSBK Championship after ten seasons racing on track as one of the series’ most prominent racers.
The Irishman - who currently competes with the German-based BMW satellite outfit alongside Loris Baz - will assume a role as co-owner of Bonovo action BMW and join the management team alongside Jurgen Roder and Mihael Galinski for next season.
While the official communication from BMW stops short of declaring Laverty is retiring from racing, his new position will at the very least see him pause a racing career that has spanned WorldSBK, MotoGP, WorldSSP and 250GP come the end of the season.
Though Laverty has struggled to replicate the form that made him a regular podium contender between 2011 and 2014 since joining BMW in 2020, he is excited by the challenge of the German marque in a senior trackside position.
“Jürgen Röder and Michael Galinski made this proposal to me and I really appreciate that they believe I can fulfill this role”, Laverty said. “I wanted to finish in a strong way with some decent results, but obviously after the last rounds I had to change my thinking a little bit, as I’m having some difficulties.
“I really enjoy to be part of this team though, as it’s probably the best team I’ve ever ridden in during my career. And opportunities like this don’t come along very often. Jürgen has been looking for some fresh blood to entrust with the future of the team, but also someone with experience. This will be a completely different path of my career.
“It’s going to be a very interesting new challenge for me and I’ll have a lot to learn from Jürgen and Michael. At the same time I want to say thank you to BMW Motorrad Motorsport for their faith in the past three years. We will stay closely related through my new role also in the future.”
Brother of Michael and John Laverty, Eugene’s early career was spent in the Grand Prix ranks, ascending to 250GP level before switch to the production formula in WorldSSPin 2008 transformed his fortunes.
Twice runner-up in the middleweight class on the Parkalgar PTR Honda, Laverty got his big WorldSBK break with a move to the Yamaha factory squad in 2011. Two wins in his maiden season caught the attention of Aprilia, who hired him for 2012 and preceded his career-best second overall in 2013.
Going on to spend two seasons in MotoGP with a degree of success, it is in WorldSBK where Laverty has enjoyed his most lucrative success with 13 victories and 35 podiums to his name
