BMW is not starting its 2022 WSBK championship as hoped, for which it had nevertheless displayed great ambitions by recruiting Scott Redding in particular. In Aragon, where hostilities began, there was first Ilya Mikhalchik, the injured Van der Mark replacement, who embarrassed the three factory drivers by presenting himself as the best performer. Then the Frenchman Loris Baz took over, but with the colors of the satellite team Bonovo. And Scott Redding from Ducati? He was far from the mark and quite annoyed by the turn of events…
In three races in Aragon, site which marked the first meeting of the 2022 calendar of the Superbike, Scott Redding scored only one point. Enough to say without being mistaken that the Englishman's debut with the Bavarian brand was a failure. To the lack of general speed were added reliability concerns which overwhelmed the British who showed his annoyance with many gestures on an erratic M1000RR… The atmosphere within the BMW-Team SMR is already tense and we will have to redress the bar very quickly.
« During the last race of the weekend, I just had no grip, the brakes weren't working very well and the engine was overheating. You can't change it. There's not much more to say about it », grumbled the pilot of 29 years in Spain. “ This weekend didn't go as I hoped. Especially since we tested for two days Monday and Tuesday. Then came the race weekend and our lap times got worse. It was difficult for me to accept this » he adds in disappointment.
Scott Redding: “ we need to understand why«
« We didn't really find anything that would have helped us all weekend. It was hard. We need to understand why it was different and also why there are more difficulties with the bike than last year. There have been some changes to the engine and the bike and we need to understand why this is happening because the potential is greater " finished Redding.
The director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, Marc Bongers, also seemed dismayed by the results…” After the tests, which looked much more positive in other conditions, the opening weekend was disappointing for us overall “, admitted the Dutchman. “ But there were several individual highlights. These include a strong performance from Ilya Mikhalchik on Saturday and seventh place for Loris Baz like Bonovo BMW Racing Team action in the second race. These are the positive aspects that we take with us ».
« On the other hand, we see that we still have a lot of work to do, particularly with Scott, but also with Eugene Laverty. We must now work hard to understand what the causes are and make a plan on how to solve this problem and find the connection to the future » recognizes the manager whose troops are already under pressure before the second round at Assen scheduled for April 22 to 24.
