World Superbike Estoril

Redding hindered by mid-weekend BMW changes at Estoril

Scott Redding lamented a misstep in direction with the set-up of his BMW M1000R after struggling to 11th in the final World Superbike race at Estoril, saying the changes "hindered" him.

Rachit Thukral Sebastian Fränzschky

Edited: Nov 3, 2022, 9:11 AM

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Scott Redding, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

Redding made an encouraging start to his third weekend with the factory BMW team, qualifying a season-best fourth behind the series’ ‘big three’, Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista.

After finishing eighth in a race where all factory riders reached the finish, BMW elected to make certain changes to Redding's bike in a bid to improve his prospects for the remainder of the weekend.

However, this decision backfired as the Briton slipped to 11th in the final full-distance race on Sunday, even losing out to satellite Ducatis of Axel Bassani and Xavi Fores.

Speaking after the race, Redding said he was happy with the braking capability of the BMW until the set-up change left him struggling on both the entry and exit to corners.

“We made a change with the bike from Race 1 to the Superpole race and Race 2, but obviously with conditions on Sunday morning I used a SC0 rear tyre and I thought that was some of the issue,” explained the Briton.

"So I was expecting it to be better. [But when] we put the SCX tyre for race 2 and it was just the same, no drive, couldn't stop the bike. And that was it.

“I couldn't stop the bike, in Race 1 I could stop the bike really well. That was gone. Exiting the corner, no drive trying to go with the guys. I was just hindered everywhere.

“The rest of the weekend was a bit more positive. I was able to be a little bit close to the front guys and we've got to take it as a positive.”

Scott Redding, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Redding said it would have been prudent for BMW to evaluate the changes in practice, but is confident that the team will not repeat the mistake in the future.

“It was something that we wanted to try and we believed it would make the step but it didn't. And we kinda should have been a little bit smarter to go, ‘didn't work in the Superpole race, take it out’,” he said.

“But we [had] used the SC0 tyre. Earlier in the weekend I felt better with the SC0 tyre. So there were too many 'not too sure' due to weather conditions [that] just caught us out a little bit.

“We were pretty fast all weekend for our situation. You can only go wrong from there. Like it was a big step that we made and we should have cherished that and used it this weekend and maybe try it again in a practice session, not really going into a race.

“We learn from it. I've spoken to the guys, we won't do that again and we will keep trying.”

The fourth round of the 2022 WSBK season will take place at Misano, which was one of the only two tracks where Redding failed to finish on the podium last year with Ducati.

The 29-year-old was downbeat about his chances for Misano, as he remains uncertain how the BMW will perform at the Italian venue.

“Misano, I don't know - it's going to be difficult,” he said. “I struggled there a little bit and I don't know [why]. When it's cold I'm really fast, when it's hot I suffer.

“With this bike I don't know how it is going to be so we have to play it by here, do the best that we can.

“I know it wasn't an easy track for BMW in the past but every year is different, we need to see where we are with the bike and step on from there.”

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