Magny-Cours WorldSBK: Garrett Gerloff: “No love lost with Scott, but hard to 100% blame him”

Garrett Gerloff has refused to blame Scott Redding for their collision in the Superpole Race at Magny-Cours, despite the 2020 WorldSBK runner-up receiving a Long Lap penalty.
Scott Redding, BMW WorldSBK Magny-Cours 2023
Scott Redding, BMW WorldSBK Magny-Cours 2023

The Bonovo Action BMW rider put forward hi🏅s best showing of the season after c☂laiming a maiden WorldSBK pole.

Race 1 was equally as strong, with Gerloff managing to finish fourth which is ꦓhis best result of the season.

The American was then fifth in Race 2 as he came from outside the top ten to rescue a big points fi🧸nish, however, it was the Superpole Race that had Gerไloff wondering what could have been.

After a poor start to the lap, Gerloff, who was already push♚ed down the order, came to blows with fellow BMW rider Redding.

Redding went for a small gap on the inside of Gerloff before hitting t🦩heﷺ former Yamaha rider, which resulted in both men crashing out.

"We were going through Turn 8 and I didn’t feel like ൲I was wide at all; in fact, I feel like I was more inside compared to most other la﷽ps," said Gerloff. 

"Then, before I kn🤡ew it, I was on the ground with somebody else. It happened so fast for me… we were already crashing by the time I saw who it was. 

"It’s one of those things. I know he didn’t m𓃲ean to; there’s no love lost and I shouldn’t have even been in that situation anyway as I went straight through Turn 6. 

"Had I been on my normal line through Turns 6 and 7 and just been doing my thing, then I wouldn’t have even seen Scott, so 📖it’s hard to blame it 100%💯 on him. 

"This weekend has been the best I’ve f𝔉elt in a really long time and I don’t feel like I’m stretching myself, I’m just there and then I look up at the end of the session and I’mꦅ in the top two and top three. We’ve made a big step and I hope we can continue."

Garrett Gerloff, French WorldSBK, 9 September
Garrett Gerloff, French WorldSBK, 9 September

For Re𒁃dding, Sunday’s double raceday was a disaster as he only crashed in Race 2 with Dominique Aegerter.

Redding rꦓeceived another penalty for that accident and called it a ‘straꦿnge’ weekend.

"Not my best weekend of luck," added Redding. "I felt good with t🌃he bike this weekend but I was just a little bit unlucky with a couple of crashes. 

"I don’t ever remember crash💟ing three times in a weekend, so it was quite strange. It think because it was so close with the laps time🎶s and to get the results there is really small room for error. 

"Obviously we had a crash in race two before the re-start. The guys did a great job to get the 🐬bike ready to start the final race – it was🌺 quite damaged. 

"I felt good at the re-start and then I💯 had two long lap penalties t♋o do. For me it was important to do them, but I made a good start and made up positions. 

"Then I started to have some small engine troubles. I think that was f𝐆rom the crashes this wee✱kend, maybe I damaged the engine. 

"It was not a good weekend for us regardi☂ng results, but we had the pace and we felt good. So we need to see if we can c🀅ome back a little bit at Aragon."

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