Imola. Round seven of the 2023 FIM Superbike World
Championship (WorldSBK) in the Italian city of Imola was a real
scorcher. In extremely challenging conditions, the BMW Motorrad
Motorsport teams and riders continued the positive trend from
Donington Park (GBR). Loris Baz (FRA) from the Bonovo action BMW
Racing Team achieved his best results of the season so far. Scott
Redding (GBR) from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team laid the
foundation for good race results with fifth place in Superpole.
Garrett Gerloff (USA / Bonovo action BMW Racing Team) impressed with
top-three results in practice and warm-up, but was then struck by
bad luck that prevented him from converting his outstanding pace
into corresponding race results. Leon Haslam (GBR), on the second
BMW M 1000 RR run by the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, finished
in the points in race one.
Redding and Baz set themselves up nicely for the weekend ahead with
fifth and ninth places in Saturday morning’s Superpole qualifying.
Haslam was 14th. Gerloff, who had been among the fastest riders in the
preceding sessions, was unfortunate with yellow flags and had to
settle for 15th place. In race one on Saturday afternoon, Baz came
home eighth to claim his best result of the season to that point,
before going even better on Sunday. Redding was initially able to
stick with the leading group, but then struggled with the handling of
his bike in the extreme temperatures. He consequently dropped back a
few positions and eventually crossed the finish line tenth. Gerloff
finished 13th, Haslam was involved in a lengthy battle for eleventh,
but was then forced off in the chicane on the final lap and eventually
came home 14th.
The temperatures were even higher on Sunday, with the thermometers
already showing 33 degrees Celsius by the Superpole Race in the
morning. Redding dropped back slightly in the turmoil at the start,
and went on to finish ninth after ten laps. He was followed over the
finish line just 0.02 seconds later by Baz in tenth place. Haslam was
15th, while Gerloff retired with a mechanical issue midway through the race.
As the afternoon was forecast to be even hotter, race control
decided, after a meeting with the medical director of WorldSBK and all
the riders, to reduce the second main race from 19 laps to 15. With
the air temperature around 37 degrees, Redding gained three positions
at the start and was running sixth after a few laps, before dropping
back to seventh place. Baz was hot on his heels in ninth place in the
same group of three. When Alex Lowes (GBR / Kawasaki) crashed in front
of them on lap twelve, Baz climbed into seventh place with Redding now
eighth. They went on to finish in these positions, separated by just
half a second. Gerloff repeated his 13th place from the previous day,
while Haslam retired.
Round eight of the 2023 WorldSBK season will take place from 28th to
30th July at Most, in the Czech Republic.
Reactions to the Imola round.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “It
was an absolute scorcher. Imola is a beautiful track where we hadn’t
been for four years. Our expectations were somewhat dampened
beforehand because two of our four riders had never been here before,
and the heat doesn’t usually favor us. At the end of the weekend, we
can conclude that we had two top-ten finishes in every race. We can be
quite satisfied with that. Loris gave a very strong performance with
three top-ten results. He was the top BMW rider twice. He followed
Scott’s setup, which clearly worked well for him. Garrett also had
extremely strong performances in the practice sessions. Unfortunately,
he was hindered by yellow flags multiple times during qualifying,
starting from 15th place, and couldn’t convert his strong pace into
the races. That was a shame. For Leon as a substitute rider, it was of
course difficult to jump onto a new bike during a race weekend. He
delivered what we expected. Now we look ahead to Most, a track where
we were very successful last year. We will also see Michael van der
Mark’s comeback there.”
Loris Baz, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team (SP: 9 / R01: 8 / SP
Race: 10 / R02: 7): “This good weekend is for all the guys
inside the team. We had so much trouble from the beginning of the year
and it was not only tough for me but also tough for them. It was just
a lot of bad luck, but seeing all the guys smiling yesterday and today
when I came back to the garage was really nice. I’m super happy. I had
a good Superpole race, missed a bit of speed at the beginning of the
race, then I caught back up on Scott, but couldn’t get this ninth spot
on the last lap. The main target for me this weekend was trying not to
crash and doing the most laps possible. That was what I was missing.
I’m happy with that. In race two, I had a good start. I was behind
Danilo Petrucci and didn’t want to overtake him straight away, because
I thought he would be as fast as yesterday, but after two, three laps,
I saw he was struggling, so I went past. But Scott and Bradley Ray
were already gone, so I had to push so hard all race to come back. I
was giving my all and I hoped I had something more in the last laps,
but they reduced the race, so I also had to rush a bit. But finally, I
came back and Scott made a mistake, so we both overtook him. Bradley
was just a bit faster than us, but I’m super happy about this race.
Finally, we have something good for all the team, although it was a
bit more tough for Garrett this time. I think we can start working
from here.”
Scott Redding, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team (SP: 5 / R01:
10 / SP Race: 9 / R02: 8): “The weekend has not been too
bad, really. We had a good qualifying, the practices were not so bad.
But we had a really high temperature coming in yesterday’s race and
today. We just missed a little bit, really. When the grip drops from
the temperature we seem to suffer a bit more than the other people.
But from yesterday to today I tried to do something a little bit
different, I tried to be a bit more calmer on the front tyre and it
was better. The race was shorter but also it was so hot. I never felt
this hot in a race, even atyAragón or Jerez when it was 42 degrees. It
was not that hot as it is now. My hands were burning. It has been a
good decision to make the race shorter because it was coming to a
boiling point. Overall, regarding the hot conditions it has not been
so bad for us here, we normally suffer more so I took some useable
data that we can try to work on for the next races.”
Garrett Gerloff, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team (SP: 15 / R01:
13 / SP Race: DNF / R02: 13): “It was a very difficult
weekend. I’m glad it’s over. It already started badly on Friday and
continued like that on Saturday and today as well. I know we can do
better than this. So now, I only want to get out of here and look
forward to the next round at Most.”
Leon Haslam, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team (SP: 14 / R01:
14 / SP Race: 15 / R02: DNF): “In race two, I had a small
problem with the brake and I ran off, so it was my mistake. Overall,
it has been a good but hard weekend. I tried to learn everything and
working with the guys has been fantastic. It was a big learning curve
for me understanding everything and it was difficult in the hot
conditions but I enjoyed the battle with the Hondas and also with
Garrett in the two races. So yes, I am happy.”
