WorldSBK: Alex Lowes on Scott Redding’s BMW complaints: “You see how much grip he had, can't be that bad”
Alex Lowes says Scott Redding’s BMW machine ‘can’t be that bad’ after witnessing his better rear grip during Race 2 of the British WorldSBK round.
Lowes made such comments when analysing his Race 2, in which both he and Jonathan Rea were passed by Redding as the BMW rider went on to claim his best WorldSBK finish of the year.
It wasn’t without a battle as Rea came back through on Redding with just a couple of laps remaining, however, the 2020 runner-up produced a great move on the run down to the Melbourne Loop.
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The reason Lowes spoke about the BMW not being as bad as some have made it out to be, is because Redding had been quite vocal in his complaints regarding the M 1000 RR’s performance.
Not just in 2023, but also last season as the German manufacturer’s lack of competitiveness saw Redding go from being a consistent race winner, to struggling for top ten finishes, on occasion.
Discussing his race and the performance of Redding’s BMW, Lowes said: "I changed quite a big dampening setting for the rear shock. It’s something I wouldn’t normally try but because we seemed to be struggling so much more than the others, it seemed quite positive.
"Gerloff was wild! He was making mistakes but then fast! I knew he was one of the fastest guys at the end of the race; he seems to lack pace at the start but at the end, he’s always one of the fastest guys.
"He made a couple of mistakes, I got ahead and I felt quite strong coming back to Jonny. With seven or eight laps to go, I was in trouble, especially at Turn 2 when we’re on the side of the tyre and just spinning, so I was finding it hard to just stay in there.
"Which is weird because Scott complains a lot about the BMW but when you see how much grid he had compared to us, you think ‘it can’t be that bad’."
On the other side of the factory Kawasaki garage, Rea was left slightly frustrated at not claiming a third podium in Race 2.
"It was frustrating to lose the fight for the podium at the end," said the six-time world champion. "From the mid-part of the race, I ran out of rear traction. I was spinning a lot and the bike was moving.
"With Scott, I thought maybe I could fight in the last corners, but he put together a pretty good penultimate and last sector.
"It’s hard when the results are flipped; if I’d finished off the way I started in the Superpole Race; I’d have been super happy.
"It so goes that the start of my day was great and it didn’t end so well with a P5, but we learnt a little bit more about our bike.
"When the grip levels came up and more rubber went down on the track, we struggled. The good thing with testing is we’ve sort of ticked the box of helping the front of the bike. Now we need to manage the rear tyre a little bit better at the end of races."
