Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes is angry that his team-mate Loris Baz ignored team orders to drop back a place to let the reigning champ take second, during the opening World Superbike race at the Losail circuit.
But the Frenchman stayed put in second and Sykes had to settle for third, meaning the fight for the title will continue into the final World Superbike race at Qatar. Huddersfield’s finest branded Baz as ‘immature and disrespectful’ and now feels he has more work to do to clinch the title. If Baz had dropped back a place all Sykes would have had to do is finish ahead of Guintoli, now he needs to fight for the win.
“It was only the incident in Sepang and I had no problems with Loris, but maybe now I do,” said a furious Sykes, speaking at the floodlit circuit.
“But it shows how immature and disrespectful he is, that was a team order and a pivotal one. We lost 20 points in Sepang because of his mistake. I could have followed Sylvain in the next race, now its winner takes it all - so lack of respect.”
Baz has now given his views, and he ignored team orders on the grounds that he didn't think that his mechanics deserved to finish in third when they were in second overall.
"I am nice with the people who are nice to me. I don’t think my mechanics deserved to finish in third when I was in second. In Magny-Cours I was thinking about the team orders and I still want to help the team,” said Baz, speaking at the circuit.
