It was a memorable day in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship for Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), as the American rider shone throughout the day and continued his good form onwards from Friday running. The #31 BMW star enjoyed a career-first pole in the Tissot Superpole session, whilst in Race 1, he was a podium contender before ultimately finishing fourth.

Setting an all-time lap record for the track in Superpole with a 1’35.453, Gerloff went from the front row of the grid for just the second time in his career after a Superpole session, whilst it was BMW’s first front row of the year. In the race, Gerloff got a mega start but was just edged to Turn 1 by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). However, Gerloff rode a solid first lap and whilst dropping to P4, it wasn’t such a drop in comparison to other times throughout his time with Yamaha in recent years. This meant that Gerloff put himself in contention and was able to fight with the likes of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and his teammate, Alex Lowes. Whilst Rea broke clear, Gerloff was able to keep the #22 of Lowes throughout the race; the Kawasaki rider had spontaneous puffs of smoke at various points and on the penultimate lap, he got ahead of Lowes into Turn 5, taking fourth.

Speaking about his ride to a best result of the 2023 season, Gerloff said: “Across the line, I was a little bit disappointed because I thought we had a bit more but, in the end, it’s the first time starting from pole position, so I wanted to start decent and settle in. I did that and it was good, but I just didn’t really have anything more once Alex and Jonny got around me. It is what it is, we learnt some stuff and we still have the chance to start from pole on Sunday. All in all, I can be happy.”

It was a big result for BMW, matching their best finish of the 2023 campaign. It was previously set by Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) at Donington Park, whilst Gerloff’s best result was a seventh place in the Superpole Races in Barcelona and at Donington Park. BMW have always performed strongly at Magny-Cours, with Eugene Laverty and Tom Sykes heading a 1-2 on the grid there in 2020, and they’ve been on the front row every year since. Last year, the #45 of Redding took a podium at the track – his most recent rostrum – and this weekend, Gerloff’s been the one lighting up the timing screens since the start of Friday.

Talking about the progress made by the team with the BMW M1000RR, Gerloff confirmed that teamwork with himself and teammate Loris Baz is helping: “We’ve been closing our window in terms of what setups work for myself and Loris. We tried to help each other in Superpole a little bit and I was able to get pole and he started from P6. He’s a really good racer and I imagined he’d be there in the early laps. I’m really happy that we can keep improving and be the best BMWs.”

Enjoy all action this weekend LIVE with the WorldSBK VideoPass, now 50% off!