BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team - WSBK - Moscow Raceway - Qualifying Practice 1

Moscow – Free Practice & Qualifying Practice 1.

Friday, 19th July 2013.

Weather conditions: Sunny with some clouds.

Temperature: Air: 23 – 24 °C, Track: 36 – 38 °C

Number of riders participating: 18 from 11 teams

Fastest lap Free Practice: Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team) 1:36.101 min

Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 1:35.567 min

The BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team has had a successful start to the Russian round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship by qualifying for the provisional front row. In this morning’s free practice at the “Moscow Raceway”, factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) set the fastest time with his BMW S 1000 RR. In the first qualifying practice in the afternoon, Marco finished third. His team-mate Chaz Davies (GBR) was seventh fastest in the morning and in the afternoon he qualified tenth on the provisional fourth row. The Russian round is the eighth of the 2013 season.

Marco Melandri:

Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:36.101 min (P1)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:35.893 min (P3)

“I’m satisfied with today. On this track we are fast and quite close to the front runners. In the first two corners I lose a little bit of time because I can’t turn in as fast as I would like, probably because of the new tyre size. We are working to find a solution. I hope that tomorrow the weather will be fine to allow us to work properly. Anyway, I am quite confident for the races.”


Chaz Davies:

Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:36.937 min (P7)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:36.303 min (P10)

“The day has not been too bad. My overall position is nothing spectacular but I am quite happy because I did not chase lap times too hard. We improved the setting bit by bit by using the same tyre and I was four tenths faster afterwards so we will continue in the same direction tomorrow. I think we can take off some more time because what we did today was a clear improvement and then with a new tyre we can hopefully even better again. I am reasonably happy also because we are a little bit quicker to find the right direction of which where to go with the setting so we will see what tomorrow brings. There might be the chance of some rain but overall I am pretty confident for the races.”

Serafino Foti (Sport Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):
“It was quite a good day. Marco and Chaz are both doing well. They are both struggling in the first sector. Now the team is working to solve this issue and to put them in the best position for the races. Tomorrow we hope to have good weather to improve their performance. Our main competitors are in a good shape, anyhow Marco and Chaz can fight for the front positions. We are quite confident for the races and they are in a good mood because they like the track and we started the weekend in a good way.”

Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):
“Overall it was not a bad start here in Moscow. Both crews have been working hard during the two sessions, also considering that the weather forecast is not the best and some rain is expected for tomorrow. So we wanted to make best use of the dry track time testing different tyres on the rear as well as on the front. I must say that both riders are struggling a little bit with turning in the first sector and this is the area where we would like to improve the most. Marco did quite a good lap time with a used tyre, so it seems that tyre life is not an issue. Chaz has improved his feeling with the bike from the morning to the afternoon.”