Jerez de la Frontera. The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team claimed
another top-six finish with the new BMW S 1000 RR in the FIM
Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). Tom Sykes (GBR) finished
sixth in Saturday’s race at Jerez de la Frontera (ESP). His
team-mate Markus Reiterberger (GER) came home eleventh. Jerez de la
Frontera is hosting round six of the 2019 WorldSBK season.
Sykes landed his RR in sixth place on the grid in the morning’s
Superpole qualifying. Reiterberger started from 14th. Sykes
lost a position at the start and was running seventh until the final
lap when he regained sixth place. Reiterberger climbed two places at
the start and then set his sights on a top-ten finish. In the end, he
took the chequered flag in eleventh place, just seven-tenths of a
second behind the rider in tenth place.
Quotes after race one at Jerez de la Frontera.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “The
fact that Tom finished in the top six again is more confirmation of
the work we have put in so far. We know that we can only improve
gradually, but that is what we are doing. We are confident that it is
only a matter of time before we enjoy some even better race results.
Tom once again did a good job of exploiting the potential of the RR.
Markus also made good progress today after a difficult Friday. Our
goal for tomorrow is to continue to improve and for both riders to
finish higher than they did today.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “It was a very productive day for Markus. We introduced
quite a major change for him overnight and he adapted very well to
that, so I am very pleased for him. He took that into the race. It was
almost a race of experience, to understand the set-up we had just
given him and he did pretty well with his lap times coming down
towards the end of the race. Of course, the top ten would have been
nice but eleventh was also a good finish today. Tom on the other hand
had a good Superpole. We got on the front two rows of the grid which
was positive. He got a good start but got pushed back then. He
literally circled all race in that position and then inherited one
place in the end. He had a slight vibration issue from the chassis
which we can fix overnight. We collected more valuable data for
tomorrow. We hope for a strong sprint race and try to secure a place
on the front row of the grid. The target for tomorrow’s main race is
to improve on today’s overall position and try to move up the order a
little bit further.”
Tom Sykes: “I’m relatively happy to be honest. I made
a pretty good start to the race and again we just had some small
issues that we had seen in some other races before, while I was able
to do some pretty nice things with the BMW S 1000 RR in the middle of
the corner. I’m at the back of the guys but then I find some
limitations. On a clear track, we have a better rhythm but I’m still
enjoying the riding – I would just like a bit more from my results.
But like I said, in terms of that, this is only round six and I don’t
feel we are doing a bad job, especially considering how new the
project is. I’m upbeat and my target is to keep working and moving
forward, especially considering what should still be to come in terms
of development. We just need time and everybody in the project
understands that. We’re all enjoying ourselves and working to the same
target and I believe we’ll get there. For now, we can’t do magical
things and I think everybody in the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team is
doing an extraordinary job. We’ll keep on pushing.”
Markus Reiterberger: “I’m really happy. Yesterday was
a pretty complicated day for all of us and my team worked really hard
and gave me a completely different bike today. I am really grateful to
them. It seemed that we improved in some areas. The goal was to be
within the top ten, which we narrowly missed, but we made some
progress. That is the most important thing and I hope that we can take
another step tomorrow. We have to work in the area that I’m still
losing the front a bit and if we manage to bring the bike out of the
corner a little bit better I think I can find a few tenths per lap.”