Munich. Having visited the two new circuits of Most (CZE) and
Navarra (ESP), BMW Motorrad Motorsport is returning to familiar
territory this weekend. From 3rd to 5th September, the eighth round
of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2021 will take place at
‘Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours’ in the heart of France. The BMW
Motorrad WorldSBK Team and riders Tom Sykes (GBR) and Michael der
Mark (NED) already know the circuit very well from the WorldSBK.
Jonas Folger (GER) and the Bonovo MGM Racing team, who are competing
in their first full season in the WorldSBK, have already made a
guest appearance at Magny-Cours in the French Superbike Championship FSBK.
Magny-Cours lies around 250 kilometres south of Paris, the French
capital, and has been a fixture on the WorldSBK calendar for nearly 20
years. A world championship race took place there for the first time
in 1991 and WorldSBK has visited Magny-Cours each year since 2003. The
combination of fast corners with long, straight sections and tight
hairpin bends makes for a challenging track layout.
Quotes ahead of the Magny-Cours round.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “The
Magny-Cours layout has a bit of everything and is an interesting
challenge for teams and riders. We have been very competitive there
over the last two years. Tom Sykes reached the podium in 2019, while
Eugene Laverty and Tom claimed double pole in a great Superpole
qualifying in 2020. However, this year sees us visit Magny-Cours a few
weeks earlier, which could mean different conditions – it will be
warmer, even though we can probably expect some rain to make an
appearance, as usual. We have set up our BMW M 1000 RR to be ready for
all eventualities. Our aim is to give ourselves a good start position
in qualifying and to keep on reducing to the gap to the very front
during the race.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team:
“The team is looking forward to Magny-Cours. It is a circuit
that has suited the BMW in the past. We have made some good steps
forward with the BMW M 1000 RR and I think the improvement that we
showed in race two at Navarra, we’ve got to keep building on that. The
Magny-Cours circuit is fast and flowing with some slower parts and we
feel that Tom and Michael can have a positive event. FP1 is going to
be really important; we need to find that early set-up for the guys
and end up with a strong races one and two. Overall, we are really
focused on going to Magny-Cours and having some consistent, fair
weather to give a true reflection of the progress we are making and we
look forward to the weekend.”
Tom Sykes, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “I am
definitely looking forward to the French round of the WorldSBK at
Magny-Cours. It’s a circuit which has given the BMW podium success in
the past and obviously for me my target is to add to that. The aim is
also to maintain our recent improvement in form that we found for
example at Navarra. That is the target for the weekend. Of course,
there is still work to be done with the new BMW M 1000 RR so we will
try our best to find the best balance and compromise to do this inside
the race weekend.”
Michael van der Mark, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team:
“Magny-Cours is a track which I really enjoy riding. It
always suits me. It has a bit of everything; fast and flowing sectors,
stop-and-go corners, so it is a bit of a mix. Regarding the set-up of
the bike, you also need to find some compromise here and there because
it has all these different type of corners. I really love the first
sector; that is one of my favourite parts of the track, but also the
last sector is always nice for some good overtaking. I am looking
forward to the weekend. We have improved our BMW M 1000 RR a lot and
at Navarra, we struggled more with the high temperatures and I think
we will not have that at Magny-Cours, so hopefully we have a bit more
stable weekend. At Navarra, we made a big step lap-time wise in
qualifying. Unfortunately for me it was so tight that I was still
tenth, but if you look at the lap times, I made a huge step. We
improved the performance there, so that is what we really need at
Magny-Cours as well.”
Jonas Folger, Bonovo MGM Racing: “Magny-Cours is a
great circuit. We competed as wildcard starters in the French
Championship there last year. I am happy that we did that, as it means
that I am familiar with the circuit now. It is a very challenging
circuit, including a real range of corners. There is a pretty long
straight, some slow corners. Sometimes it flows and then you have a
bit of stop-and-go – it has a bit of everything. I hope that we make a
good start to the weekend, work well with the BMW from the word go and
that our race results then build on recent races.”