The gap between a road going superbike and a race bike has been at least 30hp if not more,BMW took the decision to narrow that gap by some margin,were the rub comes,the gap between their race bike and road bike isn't a big one,i don't see that as either a minus or a plus,just fact.
The japs will have to up their game to match BM,untill they do BM will have a good marketing window,because the buyer in the street is pretty savy,the problem will only arise when the Japs have narrowed the gap(which they will) and BM still ain't cutting it on the track(if their not).
I'm looking forward to Le-Mans as i beleave BM have a decent chance and recent test time looks good,if they can get a result,the
PR that they'll get will buy the supebike team some breathing space.