Scott closes his 2023 season with an eighth place finish at Jerez

The 2023 season in the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) concluded with the finale at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. BMW Motorrad Motorsport and the two teams demonstrated that the BMW M 1000 RR had the potential for top six result in Spain as well. However, the necessary racing luck was missing to translate that potential into the corresponding results. The best race results were achieved by Scott Redding (GBR) and Michael van der Mark (NED) from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, both securing eighth positions.

In Superpole qualifying on Saturday morning, Scott secured eighth position, and Gerloff ninth, placing them in the third row of the grid. Van der Mark claimed 13th place, while Baz started in 18th. The first main race on Saturday afternoon proved to be challenging for both teams, with Scott having to pit early due to a tyre issue.

The racing action on Sunday commenced with an eventful Superpole race. After the first lap, Scott, Gerloff, and van der Mark were in promising positions of sixth, eighth, and tenth, respectively. However, on the second lap, the race was red-flagged due to a another competitor’s technical issue. After a break, the race was restarted for eight more laps. Scott quickly moved up to sixth place, but his performance went unrewarded as he encountered a mechanical problem, forcing him to retire.

At the start of race two, Scott quickly surged from tenth place to sixth. While he lost a few positions during the race, he eventually finished within the top eight in eighth place.

Right after the Jerez de la Frontera finale, preparations for the 2024 season begin. The Bonovo action BMW Racing Team will participate in a two-day test on the Andalusian track on Tuesday and Wednesday. Scott will be in action, with the Brit joining the team for the upcoming season.

Scott Redding
ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
(SP: 8 / R01: DNF / SP Race: DNF / R02: 8):

“Finally I got a bit of a nice race in race two today, for once this weekend, because I was a little bit unlucky with a few things. I’ve made a good start, felt really good with the bike. I then made a small mistake which cost me a little bit of time but I found my rhythm again. I was just trying to pass Andrea Locatelli all the race so I stressed all of my front tyre. In the end I got the better of him so I was happy for that but we still need to improve our acceleration grip because that is my weakest point right now. But I’m happy to finish the last race of this season and for me it was not all about the race because the last time I was here, I struggled a lot. So there’s reason to be happy and I want to say thank you to all the team for a good two years. Now we look forward to the future.”