Munich.
As part of their preparations for the 2017 season, several BMW
Motorrad customer teams took to the track together in southern
Spain. At the BMW Motorrad Race Camp teams from various
championships completed three days of intensive testing in Almeria.
Alongside the BMW Motorrad Motorsport engineers, they worked on
tailoring the BMW S 1000 RR to suit their individual requirements
and on setting them up for the upcoming races.
BMW teams from the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC), British
Superbike Championship (BSB), road racing, the French Superbike
Championship (FSBK), the French European Bikes Championship (FR EU)
and the Superbike IDM (IDM) came together in Almeria. From Great
Britain, three BMW squads took part: Tyco BMW with Ian Hutchinson
(GBR), Davide Giugliano (ITA) and Christian Iddon (GBR), Smiths Racing
with Peter Hickman (GBR) and Lee Jackson (GBR), and Lloyd Jones
PR Racing BMW with the Czech brothers Jakub and Matej Smrz. The
Penz13.com team from Germany prepared with rider Dan Kneen (GBR) for
the 2017 road racing season. French Tecmas Racing Team (EWC, FSBK and
FR EU) was on site with Kenny Foray, Maxime Bonnot, Michel Amalric,
Camille Hedelin (all FRA) and Lukas Trautmann (AUT). From IDM, the
Wilbers Racing Team had come to Spain with rider Patryk Kosiniak
(POL). The BMW Motorrad Motorsport engineers were on site and offered
comprehensive technical support.
“It was an extremely successful three days of testing,” said Marc
Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Technical Director. “We had perfect
weather conditions that allowed us to get through an extensive
programme. It’s very important to us to be able to provide intensive
support for our customers in the pre-season preparations and to offer
them our collective expertise. The joint testing at the BMW Motorrad
Race Camp gives us the perfect opportunity to help with the specific
settings for the individual RRs. From our perspective, we also
appreciate the close, direct exchange with our customer teams, made
possible by the joint testing at the track. Everyone feels that it was
a really positive event.”
Tyco BMW rider Iddon reported: “It was very productive days. We tried
a lot of things and worked mainly on chassis and electronics. We
brought a lot of new parts and tested them. I think that we made some
very good steps forward and we will keep working in that direction.”
“We had a very good test at the BMW Motorrad Race Camp in Almeria,”
said Smiths Racing rider Hickman. “We found very good settings for the
BMW S 1000 RR and are very fast so the BSB season opener in Donington
can’t come soon enough. We made good progress and the team is very happy.”
Lloyd Jones PR Racing BMW rider Jakub Smrz said: “I must say
that we are very happy with the test. We moved forward in regards of
the settings and my feeling of the bike.” His brother and team-mate
Matej added: “I am also very satisfied. After the test, I feel very
confident on the bike. We put in good lap times and everything is
fine, so I am looking forward to the races.”
Foray, who aims to win the title in FSBK this season with his Tecmas
Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR, was also happy with the three days in
Almeria: “We had perfect weather with temperatures up to 27 degrees
Celsius. It was great to do my first laps of the season together with
the BMW Motorrad Motorsport family, and to have the support of the
engineers from Munich in preparing the bike for the new season. I feel
very good on my BMW S 1000 RR and can’t wait for the first race to start.”
The FSBK, the FR EU and the BSB are the next championships to hold
their curtain raisers: the season in France will kick off on
25th/26th March in Le Mans (FRA) and the 2017
BSB will begin in Donington (GBR) one week later with the first races
on Sunday, 2nd April.