Portimão. This race Sunday at Portimão (POR) did not bring the
top results the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team had hoped for. The FIM
Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) Superpole race and the
second main race were held in very hot conditions. Tom Sykes (GBR)
claimed seventh and ninth positions with his BMW S 1000 RR while
team-mate Markus Reiterberger (GER) crossed the line in
14th and 13th places respectively.
After his fantastic performance in Saturday’s Superpole qualifying,
Sykes was starting the morning’s Superpole race from second on the
grid with his RR. In the early stages of the ten-lap sprint he
maintained second place but then conceded some positions as the race
went on and finished seventh. Reiterberger started the race from ninth
place but also lost some places and reached the finish in
14th position.
The Superpole race results decided the grid positions for the second
main race in the afternoon. Sykes was starting from seventh and
Reiterberger from twelfth place. In the early laps, Sykes held seventh
position in a closely fought group before dropping back to tenth for
some time. After 20 laps, he crossed the line in ninth place.
Reiterberger took the chequered flag in 13th position. The
season will resume with round eleven held in three weeks’ time
(27th to 29th September) at Magny-Cours (FRA).
Quotes after race two at Portimão.
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “It was a difficult Superpole race. We started off in a
strong position for Tom and also a good position for Markus but we
couldn’t consolidate that; we slid back in the pack. It was difficult
to hold position. The same problem we had in the sprint race we then
had in the second main race. It has been lack of grip, edge grip, and
we really struggled with both Markus and Tom today. We know that we
need to go and look for the chassis balance. For sure we know about
the speed deficit but the big issue at the moment is to find more
mechanical grip. If we succeed in this and find more mechanical grip,
which will be more from the chassis and suspension, then I think we
can make another step forward. But today in these hot conditions and
in a race condition where you have 20 laps you really feel the effect
of that. Unfortunately both riders struggled throughout. We could see
that when we do have grip, when we have a qualifying tyre on, Tom is
probably one of the fastest riders on the grid. This highlights that
if we can introduce more grip in race tyre conditions then we will
have a much better pace in the race. That is something what we have
learned again this weekend and we will work hard to improve that for
the next rounds.”
Tom Sykes: “It has been a bit difficult and obviously
in race conditions we saw that we have some more work to do. Today we
had some quite extreme race conditions and as a result collected some
good data. In the last race we made a few changes to the BMW S 1000
RR, which helped us to move forward and the race itself has given us a
lot of information and a clear point where we are lacking and where to
try and improve. Having said that, we certainly have some positives to
take away from this weekend in terms of track performance. A big
thanks to the whole of the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team; we’ve had quite
an intense few days testing here a few weeks back and here at the race
weekend so credit to them, we will keep working and hopefully get to
where we want to be in a few weeks’ time at Magny-Cours.”
Markus Reiterberger: “We tried a little modification
in the warm up. It felt positive but we knew that we should not be
fooled since in the cooler mornings the grip is always better and our
bike works really well then.
Unfortunately, we struggle more and more
the warmer it gets. We were able to use the soft tyre in the Superpole
race but I finished only 14th so it was not a good
race. For the second race, we made another change and the feeling was
great. The start was good, but maybe I was a bit too cautious in the
first two corners and lost a few places. But then I was able to set
good lap times and keep in touch with the group but I just could not
get past Michael Ruben Rinaldi. We are still lacking a bit of
acceleration and power.”