Frustration boils over for Scott Redding in Aragon; 'hard to accept'

In what was by far his worst weekend as a WorldSBK rider, Scott Redding showed immense frustration with his M 1000 RR after running as low down as last in race two.

Robert Jones

12 Apr 2022

Scott Redding, Aragon WorldSBK, 08 April

The 2020 WorldSBK runner-up struggled all weekend, not just compared to the likes of Alvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu, but relative to all three other BWM riders, including stand-in Ilya Mychalchyk.

Whether it was one lap performance or race pace, Redding was unable to find answers as he lapped outside of the points for parts of both feature races.

The worst of those came in race two as Redding’s first sign of anger came when he failed to stop the bike at turn eight.

The next lap around saw Redding completely miss turn one before the former Ducati rider began shouting at the bike.

The problems with his brakes and engine meant Redding was running last before the issues became too much, leading him to return to pit lane and cut his race short.

After winning the 2021 Aragon race two with ease, running last on his BMW debut was quite the contrast for Redding.

"This weekend was not what I expected it to go like, even considering we had two days of testing on Monday and Tuesday," said Redding.

"Then we come to the race weekend and we lost lap time. So, for me it was hard to accept this. We worked very hard to try and solve our problem, but we never really got anything to help us through the weekend. It was hard.

"We need to understand why it was different, we need to understand why we are suffering more than with last year’s bike. There have been some changes on the engine and the bike, so we need to understand why this happening because the potential is more.

"Then in the last race of the weekend, I just had no grip, the brakes were not working so well and the engine overheated. That is just how it goes.

"There is not much more to say. We need to work, understand and try to come back stronger because we don’t deserve to be in this position."

Getting power to the rear tyre the main issue

Although it was more visible with Redding as opposed to the other three BMW riders, acceleration out of the corners was a big problem for BMW, as the rear tyre was visibly sliding.

Bonovo Action rider Loris Baz alluded to that being the main issue whilst sitting on the grid for race two, however, the Frenchman managed to overcome such dramas to beat both Factory Honda’s to 7th.

"I thought that P7 was our potential," claimed Baz. "To be honest, I was disappointed with Saturday and this morning, especially after the testing we did on Monday and Tuesday and FP3.

"So we needed to understand why we were slower in the race than in testing. Why I was slower in the group than alone?

"Our crew made some changes before race two. I was feeling more comfortable on the bike, I understood more things, I had the bike more in my hand. I know that our potential at the moment is to be behind the three top manufacturers and that is what I wanted to do.

Loris Baz and Iker Lecuona, Aragon WorldSBK Race2, 10 April

"I tried to not any mistakes and bring it home. I said from the beginning, that this weekend is the base for our work for this year. And it is exactly what happened.

"We will build the whole project further from here, and work hard as we did from the first test on.

"For sure it is not my ultimate goal to be seventh, but the season is long and I am happy that I did a good race and with the work that BMW and the entire team do. So a big thank you to them. Now off to the next one."

Although he failed to match Baz’ top ten finish in race two, team-mate Eugene Lavarty was relatively pleased with his start to life at Bonovo after claiming P12.

Laverty said: "In the Superpole Race, the bike felt really good. I really wanted to be in the top-9 to change my grid position for race two, but I just did not have the pace to beat those guys.

"But anyway, the performance was good. In race two this afternoon, the temperature was higher and I was in difficulties with the front tyre. That did not allow me to catch the group for seventh position.

"My pace was more or less the same as theirs but it was not meant to be today, I had lost too many positions in the early laps and was not able to recover.

"It was great for the team that Loris was seventh. The Bonovo action BMW Racing Team can be really proud of the effort they all put in not just this weekend, but also in winter testing."