Financial insecurity for Scott Redding’s WorldSBK team?

The MGM Bonovo Ducati team is not a new outfit to WorldSBK by 2025, but its changes compared to previous seasons have seen it downsize to one bike, ridden by Scott Redding, and even that could fail to make the end of the season.

Until the end of last season, the MGM team ran BMW machinery in close collaboration with the Bavarian factory.

However, when Bonovo’s Jurgen Roder announced that he would retire from team ownership at the end of last year, the team ownership was taken on by Michael Galinski (MGM stands for ‘Michael Galinski Motorsport’), with Bonovo staying on as a sponsor.

There were good early signs for the new outfit, Redding, and the team’s new machinery from Ducati, as the British rider was able to finish in the top-six in all three races at the Australian Round in February.

But, since then, Redding has only been in the top-six once (Assen Superpole Race), and has only two other top-10s in that time.

Now, according to Speedweek, the MGM team could be off the grid already at the Emilia-Romagna Round at Misano in June as a result of financial difficulties.

The German publication reports that MGM’s 2025 season has been funded by a combination of the team’s own funding from its owner, Michael Galinski; sponsorship from Bonovo, who were supposed to cover two-thirds of the budget for this season; and by Redding himself, who has reportedly already provided 72 per cent of his financial obligation for the season despite only five of 12 rounds having been run in 2025.

Speedweek reports that financial difficulties began to be encountered by MGM in April, and that Galinski spoke with WorldSBK Executive Director Gregorio Lavilla in Assen to discuss the consequences of a possible withdrawal from the championship.

Additionally, the German team reportedly has debts with Ducati of around €280,000 (£235,000), and Speedweek says that Ducati has extended the deadline for this by 60 days.

Further, it says that around €800,000 (£670,000) would be needed to save the team for this season, should an external buyer wish to take control of it – a sponsor to fill MGM’s current financial hole having not been found.