The 2022 Pirelli Aragon Round was the first stage in Scott Redding’s (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) new MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship chapter following his switch from Ducati to BMW machinery. After completing a substantial amount of testing on the M 1000 RR, hopes were high he would be able to start 2022 strongly for his new team but MotorLand Aragon proved to be a baptism of fire for the British rider.

Redding ended the Supported Test, which featured six 45-minute Free Practice sessions across two days, in 11^th place on the Monday and Tuesday proceeding the round as the second-fastest BMW rider, just over a second off the pace of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who was fastest.

In the combined times of Friday practice during the Aragon Round, Redding was in 16^th place and the slowest BMW rider on track as he continued to adjust to the inline-four engine on his M 1000 RR, having previously competed on a V4 engine. After Friday’s two sessions, Redding was down by four tenths compared to stand-in teammate Illia Mykalchyk and eight tenths down on Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), the fastest BMW rider.

He also finished Saturday’s Superpole session in 16^th place after enduring a difficult session, once again finishing as the slowest BMW rider but closing the gap to his teammate to three tenths. In a field that was so congested, the three tenth gap between Redding and Ukrainian rider Mykhalchyk separated the duo by eight places. In Race 1, Redding claimed a single point with a 15^th place finish while his teammate was in eighth with an eight-second gap after 18 laps.

After Superpole on Saturday, Team Principal Shaun Muir discussed Redding’s switch to BMW and explained some of his struggles to Eurosport. He said: “We’ve had quite a bit of testing like most teams have. We left Barcelona in really good shape, we were only four or five tenths slower where we expected the top guys were going to be. It’s been a big culture shock this week. We’ve had a tough time transitioning ever. A lot of loss of grip. We’ve got more power, that’s been well publicised, we’ve got a new engine package but he’s finding it difficult, as is Loris and Eugene as well. He knows he’s got to adapt to the bike and that’s going to take some time.”

In the Tissot Superpole Race, Redding battled his way up to 12^th position before enduring a difficult Race 2. After a couple of off-track excursions that dropped him down the order, Redding brought his M 1000 RR into the pits and retired from the race to cap off a disappointing BMW debut for Redding; his 15^th place finish in Race 1 the only point he scored.

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

Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director, also gave his thoughts on the situation. He said: “He cannot find a feel for the bike and especially out of the turns we struggle with drive. We have not been able to supply a solution for this. During the test, which was pretty cold, we did not run into these issues but in the race weekend it got hotter and we clearly struggled. We have to find a solution for that soon because this is not acceptable for either of us. Of course, he is clearly upset. These boys are very motivated, and Scott is a top rider. We have to deliver a bike for him so he can be fast. Because he is professional, he fairly soon calmed down again and then we just have constructive meetings and have to find a way forward.”

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