The heat was on at Imola during round seven of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). Despite the extremely challenging conditions, the BMW Motorrad Motorsport teams and riders built on their positive trend from Donington Park. Loris Baz from the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team achieved his best results of the season so far, while Scott Redding from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team secured fifth place in Superpole. Garrett Gerloff impressed in practice and warm-up sessions but encountered bad luck in the races. Meanwhile, Leon Haslam finished in the points in race one.
On Saturday morning’s Superpole qualifying, Redding and Baz secured fifth and ninth places respectively, setting up a promising weekend. Haslam placed 14th, while Gerloff, despite being among the fastest riders in practice, had to settle for 15th due to yellow flags. In race one on Saturday afternoon, Baz finished eighth, his best result of the season at that point. However, Redding faced handling issues in the extreme temperatures, dropping back to tenth place. Gerloff finished 13th, and Haslam battled for 11th but was ultimately forced off the track and finished 14th.
With even higher temperatures on Sunday, Redding finished ninth in the Superpole Race, closely followed by Baz in tenth place. Haslam placed 15th, while Gerloff retired due to a mechanical issue. In the second main race, which was shortened due to the scorching conditions, Redding gained three positions at the start and finished seventh, with Baz close behind in eighth. Gerloff finished 13th again, while Haslam retired.
Looking back at the Imola round, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance. Despite the challenging conditions and the fact that two of the riders had never raced at Imola before, the team achieved two top-ten finishes in every race. Bongers praised Baz’s strong performance, especially his three top-ten results, making him the top BMW rider twice. He also acknowledged Gerloff’s strong performances in practice sessions, despite his misfortune in qualifying. Bongers concluded by looking ahead to the next race at Most, a track where the team was successful last year, and anticipating Michael van der Mark’s comeback.
Loris Baz from the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team expressed his happiness with the good weekend and the support from his team. He acknowledged the difficulties they faced earlier in the season but was delighted with his strong performance, including a seventh-place finish in race two. Scott Redding from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team noted that while the weekend had its challenges, the team managed to gather usable data and make progress despite the extreme heat. Garrett Gerloff, also from the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, described the weekend as difficult and expressed determination to do better in the next race. Leon Haslam from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team considered it a good but challenging weekend and expressed satisfaction with his progress and the battles he had with other riders.
The next round of the 2023 WorldSBK season will take place at Most, in the Czech Republic, from July 28th to 30th.