Photo: BMW Motorrad
With the winter break over, last weekend, the BMW S 1000 RR racers and experts of BMW Motorrad Motorsport kicked off their worldwide 2017 racing season. The first race was held at Phillip Island, Australia.
Showing strong results in the practice session, both Althea BMW Racing Team riders qualified straight into the deciding Superpole 2 session on their BMW S 1000 RRs. Jordi Torres secured the seventh spot on the grid, while his teammate Markus Reiterberger got the 12th.
“It was a weekend with ups and downs for us,” said Torres. “Race one was great, as we ran well and had a good pace. The only problem was that we had issues at the start. In the warm-up lap of race two I was not able to accelerate, so I had to return to the garage. That was a pity, but overall the weekend went well, and we know that we have the pace to be consistently within the front group.”
Teammate Reiterberger finished the first race in 12th position. In the second race, he had a strong start and held ninth spot for several laps before dropping to 11th. In the last corner, he had a slight slide and got overtaken by two other racers, crossing the line in 13th.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to improve further over the weekend. In race one, I struggled a bit but I won my battles, and 12th was a solid result to start the season with, “ Reiterberger said. “In the second race, I managed to be ahead of a strong group of five to the final corner. For sure it was a pity that I dropped two positions in the end, but the race was a lot of fun. We had a good set-up and overall, we have found a good direction from which we can continue to work.”
The second round of the 2017 WorldSBK will take place 10th-12th March at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand.
“It was a weekend with ups and downs for us,” said Torres. “Race one was great, as we ran well and had a good pace. The only problem was that we had issues at the start. In the warm-up lap of race two I was not able to accelerate, so I had to return to the garage. That was a pity, but overall the weekend went well, and we know that we have the pace to be consistently within the front group.”
Teammate Reiterberger finished the first race in 12th position. In the second race, he had a strong start and held ninth spot for several laps before dropping to 11th. In the last corner, he had a slight slide and got overtaken by two other racers, crossing the line in 13th.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to improve further over the weekend. In race one, I struggled a bit but I won my battles, and 12th was a solid result to start the season with, “ Reiterberger said. “In the second race, I managed to be ahead of a strong group of five to the final corner. For sure it was a pity that I dropped two positions in the end, but the race was a lot of fun. We had a good set-up and overall, we have found a good direction from which we can continue to work.”
The second round of the 2017 WorldSBK will take place 10th-12th March at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand.
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