San Juan. The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and riders, Tom Sykes
(GBR) and Markus Reiterberger (GER), defied very tricky conditions
in Saturday’s FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) race at
San Juan (ARG). Sykes crossed the finish line in seventh with
Reiterberger in eleventh position. The ‘Circuito San Juan Villicum’
hosts the twelfth and penultimate round of the 2019 WorldSBK season.
Teams and riders have been struggling with the slippery surface
caused by sand on the Argentinian track. It was an issue for Friday’s
free practice sessions and continued on Saturday. In Superpole
qualifying, most riders were unable to take advantage of the softer
qualifying tyres to improve their times in the closing stages of the
session. The same went for Sykes who finished qualifying in
13th position. Reiterberger was 17th. In the
race itself, Sykes and Reiterberger were among a total of twelve
riders who lined up on the grid while a further six riders opted to
not participate. After 21 laps, Sykes took the chequered flag in
seventh position, with Reiterberger in eleventh position.
Quotes after race one at San Juan.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “In
general, a seventh place is not too bad, but it’s a result that should
not be classified as such as quite a few riders did not participate.
While probably only two of them would have been in front of us, the
issue is that we lost 1.5 seconds per lap to the front. The track
conditions are very, very tricky but it seems that other teams have
found a solution to better cope with that. We need to be able to do
the same. We made some changes and now have to analyse to which degree
they have a positive impact. Our lap times have improved but in
general we are too far away from the front.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “Superpole was very difficult for us. We went into the
Superpole like most riders with the first exit trying to find a good
balance of the bike. Then we put the qualifying tyre on but did not
make any progress. Tom normally does a very good step with the
qualifying tyre and this time we could not improve the position. In
the race, again we went a bit into the dark with a setting we wanted
to try on the bike to give him some more mechanical grip. This
appeared to make some progress forward but it was a very long race and
the conditions were difficult so we are happy to come home with the
seventh position. On Markus’ side, he simply struggled with his
confidence and could not find the balance of the bike and therefore
cannot come into the corners aggressively. And we know that on a
circuit like this the competition level is so high and we must lift
ourselves to that level. At the moment, Markus is finding that very
tough – but he’s being professional and we will continue to try to
find improvements overnight and make a step forward for tomorrow.”
Tom Sykes: “Obviously we have really strange
conditions this weekend, which is a shame. Here in Argentina, the
circuit layout is absolutely fantastic, the fans are so passionate for
the racing and unfortunately we have these bad conditions. We sat down
and tried to get the best set-up for the BMW S 1000 RR. Honestly to
finish seventh we had some good luck for this but we will take it and
continue to set up the RR for the next race. We definitely got a lot
of information that we will use for tomorrow to improve. This is
completely new territory for us really and completely different
surface conditions. We just need a little bit more time to adjust and
we have seen the potential of the package in the wet and the
dry. Hopefully now we have a lot of information to make a good step
for tomorrow trying to keep a good solid run of results. The only
downside is that our starting position on the grid is not ideal for
the sprint race which ultimately sets you up for the big race. So we
will see and keep working overnight and try to make the most of the
situation tomorrow.”
Markus Reiterberger: “Conditions in Superpole have
been really difficult. It was much hotter than yesterday and even then
the riders had said that it is dangerous to ride because it’s far too
slippery; there’s too much dirt on the track and as result there is no
grip. You have a line of a maximum of a metre you can use. If you
leave that line you are close to crashing. It seems that the track had
been cleaned over night and all was fine in the third free practice
session. In Superpole, however, conditions were even worse which was
very unusual. In these extremely bad conditions I could not qualify
well and that’s how I started into the race. Many of the other riders
did not participate. We sat together in the team and said: ‘We will
race!’. The grip indeed was a bit better as it became cooler, but the
race itself was a bit lonely for me. I had a good start and improved
by two positions but then I hit the dirt in the first corner and
nearly crashed. Then I had two more moments and all I did then was to
bring it home and to at least collect some points finishing eleventh.
It’s difficult conditions for all that we have to cope with. So I want
to take the opportunity to thank my team because also with bad
conditions and results we keep standing together, and together we give
our very best.”