It's official! Scott Redding has signed with BMW to race in World Superbikes next season. The British rider changes the Ducati Panigale V4 R for the BMW M 1000 RR, and leaves a free space that Álvaro Bautista will almost certainly take advantage of to return to Borgo Panigale.
Redding will be team-mate to Michael van der Mark, which means 2013 world champion Tom Sykes is relegated from the BMW works team, which doesn't mean he's leaving the Munich brand altogether. Conversations continue.
Redding to be teammate of van der Mark at BMW
Redding made the leap from MotoGP to the Superbike World Championship, with a brief but successful stint at BSB, to be Bautista's replacement at Ducati, but he has not finished filling the gap left by the Talaverano. So far there are eight victories with the house of Borgo Panigale, the last in Most, where he also got involved.
At Motorpasion MotoSBK Navarra 2021: Schedules, favorites and where to watch the races live
In the last hours the agreement that will return Bautista to Ducati has been rushed, filling the gap in Redding, so the Briton has been quick to accept the offer he had from BMW. At 28 years old, Redding will be at the controls of a BMW M 1000 RR that is not doing badly in its first year. He has already climbed on the podium.
Interestingly, the news that Tom Sykes is out of the works BMW team comes on the same day as his 36th birthday. A bitter gift for the 2013 champion who is nevertheless negotiating a renewal with BMW, probably to drive for one of its satellite teams in 2022.
"We are very happy to welcome Scott to our family. He has made a great transition from MotoGP to WorldSBK to become one of the strongest riders in the world championship. We are convinced that with his fighting spirit and absolute will to win , is the perfect addition to the BMW Motorrad team," says Marc Bongers, the director of BMW's M department.
Shaun Muir, the director of the SBK team, emphasizes that "we have followed Scott's career for several years and we are delighted that he now becomes part of our team. His successes speak for themselves and it is fantastic that in the future he will contribute his skills and experience to the BMW Motorrad team.
After this announcement, it is to be hoped that Álvaro Bautista's replacement for Redding will not be long in coming, since the agreement was closed at the Red Bull Ring. Interest will be focused on what Honda can do to minimize the impact and keep alive a project that is in the doldrums despite the Honda CBR1000RR-R.
In Motorpasión Moto | We tested the BMW C 400 X: the same urban scooter for the A2 license, now with a better staging and extra equipment | No more excuses: Marc Márquez, face to face with the new MotoGP normality
