Magny-Cours. Donington Park (GBR), Most (CZE) and now Magny-Cours (FRA): Scott Redding (GBR) kicked off the second half of the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) with another podium. Starting from the front row, the Brit from the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team finished runner-up in Saturday’s opening race. In doing so, he also claimed his best race result so far on the BMW M 1000 RR. Loris Baz (FRA) from the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team was also in contention for a place on the podium at his home event. Magny-Cours hosted the seventh of twelve race events that make up the 2022 season.
In Saturday morning’s Superpole, Redding finished third to secure a spot on the front row of the grid for the first time this season. He immediately climbed into second place at the start of the opening race, before taking the lead shortly after. As the race progressed, only Alvaro Bautista (ESP / Ducati) was able to find a way past him, and Redding celebrated second place on the podium together with his team. In the Superpole race on Sunday morning, Redding came home fifth. He then ended the weekend with a sixth place in the second main race on Sunday afternoon.
Baz was also in contention for a spot on the podium in the opening race. From ninth on the grid, the local favourite made quick progress and was running third by lap three. However, he made a mistake on lap twelve and, like other riders in the leading group ahead of him, crashed. Baz was able to rejoin the race and went on to score two points for 14th place. He then finished ninth in the Superpole race. In the second main race, Baz was part of a group embroiled in a battle for seventh place which went right down to the finish, with the Frenchman eventually crossing the line in ninth place.
Michael van der Mark (NED) from BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team made his comeback at Magny-Cours after a lengthy injury-enforced break. Starting 15th, he came home twelfth in race one and 13th in the Superpole race. Van der Mark then crashed out of race two on Sunday afternoon, but is okay.
Eugene Laverty (IRL) from the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team struggled at Magny-Cours. He started from 16th on the grid and finished 18th in both the opening race and the Superpole race. Laverty was forced back into the garage prematurely in race two due to an electronic issue.
Round eight of the WorldSBK season will take place in two weeks (23rd to 25th September) at Barcelona (ESP).
Quotes after the Magny-Cours races.
Scott Redding, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team (SP: 3 / R01: 2 / SP Race: 5 / R02: 6): “I am pretty happy. To take the podium here and the first front row are the positives we take and the negatives are not that bad. We just struggled a little bit in acceleration areas in this track and that was costing me too much time. I think without that lack of acceleration I would have probably been fourth in race two but that was our only real weak point so when we look at the other parts, it was good. We just need to understand why I was losing so much out of the slow corners. I can walk away happy and we just need to look to the next race and keep trying to improve to the end of the year. We are learning. It is another track, it is another small problem we need to address. We have just to keep improving bit by bit. It is not going to be straight forward, it is going to be a little bit up and down, but as long as we keep getting there, it is good. For me it’s nice that BMW can get something back because they are putting in hard work. We’ve still got a long way to go but we are able to be there sometimes and the plan before the season was to get there, if we can get a podium, let’s do it, if not to understand the data so we can improve. And we are taking that. We have taken the way we wanted to go now so we have to be a bit more competitive to the end of the season and I think we are on the right track.”
Loris Baz, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team (SP: 9 / R01: 14 / SP Race: 9 / R02: 9): “It was a good weekend. I was happy to back racing at home. That was really cool; a lot of people have been here and that’s always nice. We had a great chance for a podium yesterday. It was cool that there were two BMWs fighting for a podium spot. We can definitely see the progress from a couple of races now. I was closer to Scott yesterday but unfortunately had the crash but I had to try it. Today was a bit harder. We expected that because of the high temperatures. We still struggle more in the low grip conditions. In the Superpole race, we had a small issue with the shifter. It was really hard to shift back and I got a cramp in my leg, which made me struggle a bit still in race two. Overall, the pace was okay and the gap to the front guys was much closer than a few races ago so we are heading in the right direction and we need to keep working like this. I am happy that I feel better on the bike. Barcelona will be a big challenge because of the grip level but we will try our best there too.”
Michael van der Mark, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team (SP: 15 / R01: 12 / SP Race: 13 / R02: DNF): “I am fully fine; it was a big crash but I am really disappointed because this morning in the Superpole race I had a good start and some nice battles. I was really enjoying it and I felt like I was coming back to my old speed. I was really happy being back fighting with the guys. For race two, we changed the bike a little bit. I had a really good start again and tried to catch up with the group and I lost the front in turn 14. Unfortunately that was the end. It was not the ideal end of the weekend, because this weekend was mainly for us to get back up to speed and get the feeling back and we were really going well so far. It was just a shame to end the weekend like that but now I am looking forward to Barcelona.”
Eugene Laverty, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team (SP: 16 / R01: 18 / SP Race: 18 / R02: DNF): “To retire from race two was not the way I wanted to end the weekend but there was an electronic issue and I had to come to the pits early. Overall it has been a difficult weekend as I was struggling with pace. I need to try and get somewhere near to the other BMW guys. We keep working hard to improve for the next race.”