Phillip Island. The new BMW S 1000 RR has already proved to be
a consistent points collector on its debut weekend in the FIM
Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). Again in Sunday’s race at
Phillip Island (AUS), both BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team riders scored
world championship points. Markus Reiterberger (GER) finished
12th, immediately followed by team-mate Tom Sykes (GBR)
in 13th.
On Sunday at noon, the new “Superpole Race” was on the
programme, a sprint race over ten laps, in which Sykes and
Reiterberger took positions 11 and 12. The afternoon race was run over
22 laps, as on Saturday. Sykes started from tenth on the grid, with
Reiterberger from 13th. In the opening stage, Sykes had a
‘moment’ when battling with another rider and lost positions while
Reiterberger fell back slightly at the start. Over the course of the
race, however, both riders worked their way forward and together were
part of a closely fighting group of five. The two team-mates also
exchanged positions several times. Ultimately, Reiterberger finished
1.3 seconds ahead of Sykes.
Phillip Island also hosted the 2019 Australian Superbike Championship
(ASBK) season opener at the weekend. Glenn Allerton (AUS) from the
NextGen Motorsports/ Maxima BMW team was the highest placed BMW rider.
In the three races held, he claimed two seventh places and one ninth
place. His team-mate Ted Collins (AUS) finished 11th twice
and once in tenth position.
Quotes after race two at Phillip Island.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “We
have to be satisfied with the first race weekend with our brand new
BMW S 1000 RR. We could, however, also see in the ‘Superpole Race’ and
in race two that we still can’t recall our true pace. We still lose on
the straight, but at other points of the track we are then right
behind the competition again. If we were alone on the track, we would
set top-six or top-eight times, but if we are in a race in the pack,
we can’t reproduce them because we are stuck. So the positive thing is
that our theoretical pace is already very good. Now we will do
everything we can to improve in our straight-line deficit. But this
first race weekend makes me basically confident for the course of the season.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “We’ve got to be realistic and we have probably reached
our goals for the first time we raced the BMW S 1000 RR so we are very
happy. We have had no major incidents and I think that we have proved
that the bike is going to be competitive very soon. We clearly have
our limitations at the moment and we will work hard on sorting them
out in the break before the next races. Both riders rode very well and
both have been very patient in understanding that we need to wait for
the development parts to come through. So from my side the overall
summary is that we can look forward to a very competitive bike over
the course of the season. We just need to be patient and wait for that
to arrive.”
Markus Reiterberger: “Today was much better than
yesterday. I really enjoyed the race. Even though I missed my goal,
the top-ten, I could at least see that it was possible. I would have
had the necessary pace if I had not started so far back after
difficulties in qualifying and if I had made a better start. In the
race itself I had a better feeling from the beginning, and above all
more self-confidence. Although the grip level was even worse at
today’s higher temperatures than yesterday, we did a good job and took
another step in the right direction. I was able to out-brake some
opponents and gain a lot in the corners – that’s where our BMW S 1000
RR is really phenomenal. Unfortunately overtaking is still difficult
for us because we lose at the corner exit and on the straight. I take
the positives: the top-ten was possible, the feeling is better and the
direction is right. I would like to thank the entire team that works
tirelessly to make this progress possible. We are competing in the
world championship; that’s not a walk in the park. We are a very young
project and the potential is definitely there. Now I can’t wait until
we head to the next races.”
Tom Sykes: “It has been a challenging day but I have
to say that our results do not reflect where we really are. It is just
unfortunate that at the moment the bike still has some limitations in
straight-line performance but it’s still very early days. On the
positive side we have a very good chassis set-up so we were able to
make some good passes but then lost again on the easy part of the
track. We have shown what is possible by being in the top-five during
all tests and practices when we are riding alone, so we know which
area we have to work on with the bike and we now have some race
mileage under our belt. And I know that now the entire BMW Motorrad
WorldSBK Team will work hard to keep progressing like we did over winter.”