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.”
