‘I came to this project to stay’ - Baz clear about intention to remain with BMW

Baz, who signed a one-year deal with Bonovo Action BMW after competing for Ducati in MotoAmerica last season, has been in impressive form at Donington Park after claiming third in this morning’s FP3. 

Like factory rider Scott Redding, Baz is also using BMW’s brand new swingarm which he called a ‘good step’ forward compared to the previous version. 

The new swingarm has been the biggest upgrade since Misano, along with some smaller changes that appear to have put BMW in the hunt for a top five result this weekend, if not better. 

Baz said: "The new swingarm works pretty well, also it’s a track that suits the bike well. Also, Misano was just one of the worse [weekends] where nothing goes right. 

"Everything just goes wrong, and wrong, and wrong, and wrong. Just the Pizza and the Pasta was good. It’s cool here and I had a good feeling in the small number of laps we did at the test. 

"I feel better with the swingarm and it’s not a massive step but it’s a good step. There are some other small changes on the bike at a place that I love. I’m not super happy because I didn’t ride super well. 

"I was struggling a bit with my shoulder and since I crashed in Estoril, sometimes it’s quite painful." 

Baz sick of ‘change’, wants WorldSBK stay with BMW

Keen to remain at BMW and build a more competitive package going forward, the former MotoGP rider has no wish to join another manufacturer/team, although remaining at BMW will come down solely to the German marque. 

Discussing his future, Baz stated: "I came to this project to stay here. I don’t want to do just one year because I’ve been changing unfortunately too much in the last few years. Not my choice but because I had no choice, so I had to change and it’s not ideal. 

"It’s good if you can stay some years in the same project and build something for you with the same people around you that understand what you need and the bike, so the idea is to stay and I think BMW wants to keep the same riders. It’s maybe not the first year where I’m super worried [about my future]."