Despite a clear increase in terms of performance, Jonas Folger came away empty-handed in Sunday’s races at Misano. At the end of a complicated weekend, he was at least able to take away positive impressions.
Jonas Folger and his Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance team were able to make the most of a hot race Sunday at the Misano World Circuit despite hurdles. After a solid warm-up in the early morning, Folger made up a few places right at the start of the Superpole race and found himself in best company racing in 14th place.
But shortly after the race’s halfway point, BMW brand colleague Michael van der Mark crashed directly in front of him, forcing Folger to take evasive detour. He lined up again in 20th position and quickly made up a large gap. But the Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance rider eventually ran out of laps and saw the chequered flag in 19th place.
Folger went into the second main race of the weekend from 16th spot on the starting grid, from which he made a good start again. The 27-year-old Bavarian moved up into the top 15 before the end of the first lap, moving forward to P14 on lap four. He was able to hold this position solidly behind Japanese rider Kohta Nozane. Within twelfth position in the reach, Folger narrowly avoided a crash four laps before the end of the race. However, the inevitable trip into the gravel cost him his promising position for a point scoring result. Nevertheless, the WorldSBK rookie continued to fight his way through and finally finished in 16th place after 21 exhausting laps.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, BMW M 1000 RR)
Superpole-Race: P19 / Race 2: P16
“Race No. three here in Misano was actually the best, especially in terms of our speed. After the unfortunate outcome of the Superpole race, I had to start from sixth row. In addition, the heat was quite a problem right from the start. The tyres heated up quickly, but despite that I was running quite well in the first half of the race. A slight change in the gear ratio also helped a bit to improve things. I actually rode behind Nozane for almost the entire distance, and we were even able to catch up with Tom Sykes.”
“But after several front-wheel slides that I just managed to save; I had a highsider in turn four just four laps from the end. I just managed to catch this mishap too, but I ran into the gravel and lost a few positions. That was a shame, because I would definitely have finished in 14th place and finally picked up a few points again. At least our pace was much better, and my starts today were a lot better than in the previous races. So, let us take the positives with us, even if it was a difficult weekend overall.”
#ITAWorldSBK - Superpole Race:
1 Michael Ruben RINALDI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R/ 15´50.711
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / +0.485
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +1.865
19 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / +37.066
#ITAWorldSBK - Race 2 (21 Laps):
1 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 33´24.487
2 Michael Ruben RINALDI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati / Panigale V4 R / +1.286
3 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / +1.701
16 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / +43.046
#WorldSBK Standing:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki / 149
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 129
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Ducati / 104
18 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / BMW / 8
