‘Consistency’ key to move BMW WorldSBK project forward - Muir

After just three podiums and an injured rider, BMW boss Shaun Muir reflects on a challenging WorldSBK season.

2022 saw Scott Redding swap his Ducati Panigale for the BMW M1000RR and its safe to say it didn’t go as planned in the early stages. A single point from three races at Motorland Aragon heralded issues for the new partnership with the summer proving more fruitful, thanks to the arrival of his first podium in front of a delighted crowd on home soil.

While Redding was coming to terms with his new bike, his teammate, Michael van der Mark, was out through injury - suffering both during preseason and again at Estoril. Despite a brief appearance at his local TT Circuit Assen in April, the team was largely denied its reference point until the Dutchman returned at Magny-Cours, in September.

“When we look at where we started with Scott, we had a really, really tough time in pre-season testing,” Muir reflected on the turbulent year. “Scott found it really difficult. Went to Aragon and he was really lost. Didn’t have Michael. [Ilya] Mykhalchyk stood in for Mickey so we completely lost our reference point and, obviously, Loris [Baz] was new to the Bonovo team, so we didn’t have a reference on that side; only Eugene [Laverty]. From the whole group, both Bonovo and the factory team, we were all struggling really to find our level.

“As soon as Michael got back, effectively Estoril, he was injured again. It took Scott maybe four rounds to get any real feeling. He had an okay Assen and then moving forward from Assen it started to come to him a little bit. He definitely needs more time on the bike and more testing, but we became a little bit caught up in trying to get Scott comfortable instead of developing the bike, and I think