BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team - WSBK - Jerez - Qualifying Practice 1

Jerez – Free Practice & Qualifying Practice 1.

Friday, 18th October 2013.

Weather conditions: Partly cloudy, sunny in the afternoon.

Temperature: Air: 24 – 27 °C, Track: 24 – 38 °C

Number of riders participating: 20 from 13 teams

Fastest lap Free Practice: Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) 1:41.873 min

Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 1:42.374 min

The 2013 season finale at Jerez (ESP) started well for the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team with qualifying on the provisional front row. In today’s first qualifying practice, factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) set the second fastest time with his BMW S 1000 RR despite an injury in his right ankle. His team-mate, Chaz Davies (GBR) finished the session in ninth. This weekend the team enters a third BMW S 1000 RR for Sylvain Barrier. The Frenchman, who secured his second consecutive title in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at the last round at Magny-Cours is debuting in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Sylvain finished his first ever qualifying practice in the series in 16th.

In the first qualifying practice of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, Markus Reiterberger qualified second on the provisional front row. The young German, who is the reigning IDM champion, has taken over Sylvain’s BMW HP4 in the BMW Motorrad GoldBet STK Team for this round. It is the first time Reiterberger has ridden this DDC equipped new bike. His team-mate Greg Gildenhuys (RSA) finished the session in 11th.

Marco Melandri:

Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:42.842min (P4) /Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:42.641 min (P2)

“I am satisfied today. It was a good first qualifying practice. I improved lap by lap and do not feel too much pain in my foot. Unfortunately I have a reduced mobility and this is not helpful in fast direction changes but luckily here on this track there are only a few of them. Today the track was not as fast as usual and for me it was an advantage because I did not have to too push hard. We are in a good shape and it’s still Friday, while I was only expecting to reach this level of performance by tomorrow. This makes me confident for the weekend. Now let’s wait and see tomorrow.”

Chaz Davies:

Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:43.503 min (P8) /Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:43.170 min (P9)

“The weekend did not start too well for me. I am not really happy with our performance today because I feel that the bike is not as agile as I would like it to be. I was struggling a little bit when turning. Although we improved this afternoon, it was not enough and I could not make best use of the bike. The lack of agility meant that every time I pushed a little bit harder it was very easy to make a mistake and to miss the right line. For this reason, my ideal time of the combined best sector times is a lot faster than my actual lap time. I think the difference was four tenths. We need to improve that and then look for more grip too. The conditions of this circuit change very quickly, I don’t think I have ever seen a track so sensitive to temperature changes. I remember one test in winter when the conditions changed every hour. This means you end up changing the settings all the time. But anyway, we have collected good data today and will try to improve the bike for tomorrow.”

Sylvain Barrier:

Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:44.466 min (P14) /Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:43.879 min (P16):

“I had no experience with riding a Superbike before but now the feeling is quite good. I am feeling confident with the RR. All the team work very well on the bike. I just need some more laps to get used to it, to the tyres, to the power of the bike, also to the brake power, as everything is different compared to a Superstock bike. You need to learn how to use the power and the brakes correctly. In addition, it is really different to ride with slick tyres because you can put a lot of pressure in the front when you enter the corner. I am pretty happy as I am getting more and more acquainted with it and my confidence increases. My target for Sunday would be to be inside the top 10. I know that it is possible and we will work for this. Thank you again to BMW for giving me the chance to ride the bike. It is amazing, I really like it.”

Serafino Foti (Sport Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):
“It was a good Friday. Marco arrived yesterday on crutches because of an injury to his foot. But today he was immediately fast despite his physical condition not being great. Chaz was not happy with the setting of his bike. Tomorrow we will work to enable him to improve. Sylvain was a nice surprise, in the afternoon he was nearly one second faster than in this morning practice. Unfortunately when he was going out again with new tyres, he had a small issue and couldn’t further improve. In the Superstock class, Reiterberger’s second place shows the excellent job we have done during the year to develop the new HP4 and the electronic damping system.”

Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):

“Today we experienced typical Jerez conditions: when the temperature increases the track is still not faster. We have seen that in the afternoon when the temperature was a bit higher, everyone was struggling, mainly with grip on the rear. This is the reason why the lap times did not improve compared to the morning session. This is an area which we will work on. We would like to improve the overall grip for Marco and Chaz. In addition, Marco especially is not confident with the front end of the bike and this is where we would like to improve the most. Chaz would like to improve the agility of the bike. He feels that he is losing because of that and the lack of grip. I must say that we are surprised by Marco’s performance considering his physical condition but he is a tough guy and we believe that tomorrow he will be able to fight for a good position on the grid despite his injury. Sylvain is just enjoying the Superbike experience. For sure he will need some more time to understand the bike better and to get the best from it.”