Sykes impresses at Navarra after being ‘hit with the news’ of losing BMW seat

Tom Sykes followed up back-to-back sixth place finishes with an impressive top five during Navarra WorldSBK race two.

Round seven of the season got off to a less than ideal start for Sykes, after news surfaced of Scott Redding joining the BMW team in his place for 2022. 

However, the 2013 world champion put that behind him to outperform team-mate Michael Van Der Mark in all three races. 

When talking to Speedweek.com before the weekend began, Sykes was disappointed by a lack of ‘communication’ from BMW: "I only heard of this decision very late and am disappointed. I did not expect that and was surprised because of the lack of communication. 

"I grew up respecting people, regardless of their path in life. What I hear in the paddock, things started a long time ago, which brings us back to respect. 

"I would have liked to have spoken to Dr. Schramm, whom I have a lot of respect for and whom I really appreciate."

BMW have stated they want to keep Sykes for next season in one of their two satellite team’s, which would be handy for the team given his development of the bike since 2019. 

Sykes was able to better team-mate Van Der Mark in all three races at Navarra - a trend that’s happened more often than not of late. 

While race performances haven’t always been consistent for Sykes, this particualr area was one of the BMW rider’s strongest points at Navarra, along with qualifying which has remained a big positive for him in 2021.

Sykes added: “I think, for me, the front row was good because I wasn’t quite expecting that having seen the speed of the Kawasaki's, Ducati's and Yamahas, there’s a lot of bikes there.

"The front row was great because as I got into the race, I realised how much of a one-line circuit it is. 

"It was a really tricky one to pass at, especially off-line as it was still quite dusty. Racing has gone well, consistency’s been pretty nice, more so in the hot conditions than the cooler condition. 

"I was pleased with our performance. We still have some limitations with turning and rear traction, but I just tried my best to manage this with different brake pressures in certain areas, different ways to open the throttle than I normally would do and a lot of pressure from the boys for the whole race. 

"Overall, to finish fifth is a good end to the weekend and hopefully we can keep building on this."