BMW wants to put the Magny-Cours debacle behind them: “Our goal is the podium!”

Following a difficult race weekend at Magny-Cours, BMW is hoping to return to its former form at Cremona. Expectations in France were high; after all, the team had previously tested on the circuit. However, the results fell well short of their own expectations.

Miguel Oliveira scored just one World Championship point across the three races. His team-mate Danilo Petrucci also failed to find his rhythm. Even in the second race, which was marred by numerous crashes, the Italian could only manage 12th place.

BMW Technical Director Chris Gonschor attributes this primarily to the significantly changed conditions between the test and the race weekend, meaning that the data collected previously did not yield the hoped-for advantage.

Chris Gonschor nannte die Gründe für das Scheitern in Frankreich

Foto: Gold & Goose

“Of course, the results at Magny-Cours weren’t what we’d hoped for, especially given that we’d had the opportunity to test there beforehand,” Gonschor admitted when asked by SPEEDWEEK.com.

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However, he put the extent of the preparation into perspective: “We mustn’t forget that we’d only had one day of testing at Magny-Cours beforehand. Miguel had never raced there before. So it still wasn’t a great deal of testing time.”

A 20-degree difference caused problems for BMW

From the technical director’s point of view, however, the weather was the decisive factor. Track temperatures during the test were completely different to those at the race weekend. “During the test, track temperatures were around 60 degrees. At the race weekend, they were down to just 35 to 40 degrees. So we’re talking about a significant difference of around 20 degrees,” explained Gonschor.

The impact on the BMW M1000RR was greater than expected. “This altered the bike’s handling more than we’d anticipated and more than is usually the case.”

As a result, BMW fell behind early on in the set-up work. “We struggled a bit to support the riders with the best possible set-up. Sometimes a chain reaction sets in: you take one step in the wrong direction, and the next one follows.”

The team were unable to turn things round over the course of the weekend. “We couldn’t turn the momentum around,” Gonschor noted. “But we have strong riders and they kept fighting right to the end. Now we want to put Magny-Cours behind us and look forward to the race here in Cremona.”

Gonschor: The podium must be the target

The objective for the third-last race weekend of the season is correspondingly ambitious. When asked about his expectations for Cremona, Gonschor initially gave a very brief answer: “Full throttle!”

The Technical Director then made it clear exactly what that meant: “We’re still fighting for the podium. That is quite clearly our target. There’s no other option. We’re here to race. We have competitive riders and a good bike.”

It will be crucial to provide Oliveira and Petrucci with a competitive set-up right from the start. “We’ll try to set up the bike in such a way that our riders benefit from it and can fight for good positions.”

BMW-Werksfahrer Miguel Oliveira

Foto: gold & goose

Gonschor knows, however, just how tight the competition is in the Superbike World Championship. “It’s a very competitive season. That’s why it’s not so easy to make big leaps forward. But our goal is clear. We’re hoping for consistent conditions and want to make the most of them.”

Petrucci won all the races at the Cremona debut

Team principal Shaun Muir also hopes that BMW will get back on track at Cremona. He sees parallels between Magny-Cours and the previously difficult weekend at Donington.

“There, too, it was difficult to find the momentum needed to make progress,” explained Muir, recalling Petrucci’s hat-trick at the Cremona debut two years ago: “Now we’re heading to a circuit where Danilo has performed excellently in the past. It was a good circuit for him.”

Danilo Petrucci war der Held von Cremona

Foto: Gold & Goose

For Oliveira, however, the weekend begins with an additional challenge: the Portuguese rider is competing in a race at Cremona for the first time. Muir is nevertheless looking ahead. “We need to make progress now, look back at the last three race weekends and try to build up momentum again.”

For BMW, the situation is therefore clear: Magny-Cours must remain a one-off blip. In Cremona, the team aims to show that the M1000RR can once again compete for the positions that Gonschor has set as the only acceptable goal – the podium.