Althea BMW Racing Team satisfied after first WorldSBK round

Althea BMW Racing Team satisfied after first WorldSBK round

Phillip Island (Australia) Sunday 28 February 2016

A truly exciting race today at the Australian track that has been hosting the Superbike series ever since 1990. The many fans spread around the sun-kissed track over the three days today witnesses what was an extremely hard-fought battle from beginning to end.

RACE 2 (22 laps, 97.790 km)
When the light went off, the two Althea BMW Racing Team riders started from the fourth row, in eleventh (Reiterberger) and twelfth (Torres) position with their BMW S 1000 RR machines.

“Reiti” made a strong start, earning two positions on the second lap, and was lying ninth until lap six, while Jordi was caught up in traffic through the first corners after a bad start, and was lapping fifteenth on lap one. Making up three position, the Spaniard from Rubì was able to reach his teammate on lap five. The pair completed six laps one in front of the other until Reiterberger decided to pass the rider ahead of him, to position eighth on lap thirteen. During the following lap he made a mistake that allowed both Torres and then Brookes to pass him. At this point, a strong Torres maintained eighth position and was able to cross the line in an excellent seventh position. Reiterberger finished behind him, eighth.

The week was characterised by two crashes during testing, one for each rider, and by a crash in Race 1 for Markus Reiterberger. The riders’ physical condition was therefore less than perfect. The BMW technicians and engineers are nevertheless satisfied with this first event and now prepare for round two, in Thailand, aware that they have identified a solid base for the bike and that the riders are well capable of exploiting the strengths of the BMW S 1000 RR.

“I had a problem at the start and realised we have more work to do. In the end I was able to find good race pace, once I got through the traffic at the start, and was able to ride as I wanted. I felt comfortable on the bike, gained confidence and tried to push ahead but I did not succeed. I’m satisfied anyway because we’ve collected a lot of information and are starting to understand how to prepare for the race. I’m pleased that the next round is in Thailand because I really enjoyed riding there last year. The people are wonderful and the show is guaranteed.”

“In this second race I had to fight at the start. At the beginning of lap one I think I lost some positions but I was quickly able to make that up. The race was fun, I had a good battle with Brookes who was always close. Then I made a mistake and he passed me. This made me mad but on the final lap I was able to get in front of him. I’m not pleased with eighth place but I am happy that I finished the race without crashing, and also that we were able to resolve the small problems we had over the weekend. Now I will rest a little to be in the best possible shape for the next races in Thailand.”

“Overall I’m very pleased with this first race weekend with our new BMW S 1000 RR bikes. We were finally able to understand where we’re at after the brief work carried out at home during testing. I’m pleased with the 7th and 8th place scored by Torres e di Reiterberger. Of course we are working to be a lot further ahead, but what penalised us to today, particularly Jordi, was a bad start, which meant there was already a 5 second gap between him and the leaders by lap two. Markus, despite having suffered a bad crash in race 1, did very well to manage the pain in his right hand and left foot that bothered him during the whole of race 2.

I have great faith in the work of the team and the German technicians, who have collated more data here so that we can react quickly with regard to the next round in Thailand.”

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