Garrett Gerloff makes the BMW fly: first career pole and new Magny Cours record. All in front of the two official Ducatis.
About Paolo Gozzi de Motoracing
Superbike in France offers us an intriguing novelty: BMW comes out of limbo and allows the Texan Garrett gerloff to win the first Superpole of his career. Not since Silverstone in 2011 with John Hopkins no American had started at the forefront of the World Championship. BMW hasn't started from the front since the last time at Barcelona 2021 with Tom Sykes. The Ducati are beaten: Alvaro Bautista and Michael Rinaldi will complete the first row.
Garrett gerloff here in Magny Cours had also been strong with the Yamaha , so the pilot made the difference. But it is undeniable that BMW is growing. Next year, Toprak Razgatlioglu will find an M1000RR up to the task, even if the Texan has already warned the Turk: with this bike, aggression does not pay. Beyond the result, performance counts: gerloff fell almost three tenths below the previous Superpole record, which had stood for two years. Alvaro Bautista tried, for three rounds in a row. But between traffic and other circumstances, he came within 59 thousandths of the goal. On Friday the Spaniard was ill with an intestinal virus, today he looks exactly like his usual steamroller.
Garrett Gerloff leads BMW, Baz sixth
Ducati also put Michael Rinaldi at the forefront, very useful to thwart the warlike intentions of Toprak Razgatlioglu et Jonathan Rhea. At Magny Cours, both are performing well (six and nine victories respectively) but do not let Baptist escaping will be a challenge. We will then see which way the scales will tip in the final laps which, with these temperatures, promise to be particularly difficult. By the way: the SCX B800, Alvarito's favorite rear, is available again here...
Danilo Petrucci will start in the third row (ninth time), in front Scott Redding which sent the BMW to the ground while trying to maintain Gerloff's slipstream. THE Honda did very poorly, 14th and 16th: the new chassis introduced thanks to the concession obtained seems to have further complicated the ideas of Xavi Verge et Iker Lecuona. Even worse, Axel Bassani, inconsolably 19th. Between Friday's fall and this morning's technical problem, the French weekend has not started. Not good at this moment when his future in Superbike is being decided.
