More worries for BMW as Baz claims ‘I could never fully trust the bike’

Loris Baz claims he could ‘never fully trust’ the BMW M 1000 RR in 2022 and that big changes are needed with regards to electronics and the chassis, if they’re going to be a competitive force in WorldSBK.

Robert Jones

06 Jan 2023

After making his return to WorldSBK with Bonovo Action BMW in 2022, Baz will take part in his second consecutive season with the German manufacturer in 2023, lining up alongside new team-mate Garrett Gerloff following the American’s switch from GRT Yamaha.

After claiming two podiums in just five races as a replacement rider at GoEleven Ducati in 2021, Baz was unable to record a podium result throughout the entire 2022 campaign, highlighting the struggles at BMW compared to Ducati.

While Ducati claimed both the Riders’ and Manufacturers’ titles, BMW were close to 400 points down on the Italian manufacturer.

Scott Redding did provide BMW with three podium finishes in what was a difficult season, however, fears that the same problems will persist come the season opener at Phillip Island next month, remain for Baz.

The Frenchman will have a new fairing and softer chassis at his disposal as BMW continues to bring developments to the M 1000 RR, but Baz is not expecting miracles when he steps on the bike during the first pre-season test of 2023.

"The fairing will help a bit with the grip because it changes the balance of the bike," Baz told Speedweek.com. "But I don't expect to jump on the new bike and all problems will be solved.

"It's not just about the chassis, the fairing and electronics, but about their interaction. So far for me it has been the case that I could never fully trust the bike, I always lacked that last bit of trust.

"With many of our smaller problems, I am convinced that we will be able to solve them very soon.

"But our basic problems are the lack of grip on the rear wheel and that we can't get the power to the ground when exiting corners."

Baz’s complaints regarding a lack of rear grip were seconded by Redding throughout last season, and given the advantage Ducati, Kawasaki and Yamaha hold in that area, it means BMW are unlikely to be challengers during the early part of the year.

Michael Van Der Mark Loris Baz Race 2, Australian WorldSBK, 20 November

Baz added: "Sometimes things change very quickly. That can be good or bad. We can't get any worse, we can hardly slow down any more.

"I hope we can find something that will allow us to go faster, and not just at Jerez. Ultimately we have to work, we have no other choice.

"Everyone is aware of that. And everyone works. It needs big changes to the electronics and chassis to give us more confidence."

The worries that Baz shares about BMW’s current position comes after he admitted that rival teams 'did a better job of improving their package throughout the year'.