Assen. The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team scored more points with
the new BMW S 1000 RR at Assen (NED) than any other race weekend so
far in this season’s FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK).
Markus Reiterberger (GER) finished sixth in the two races, which
were both held on Sunday. Team-mate Tom Sykes (GBR) came home tenth
and seventh. The duo’s haul for the weekend was 35 points – their
biggest score so far. The TT Circuit Assen hosted round four of the
2019 WorldSBK season.
Race one, which was postponed due to snow on Saturday, was held on
Sunday morning. It was followed in the afternoon by race two.
Reiterberger started both races from third on the grid with Sykes in sixth.
Reiterberger climbed into second place thanks to an outstanding start
in race one. For seven laps, he was hot on the heels of leader Alvaro
Bautista (ESP / Ducati) before dropping a few positions. Despite that,
Reiterberger still came home sixth to claim his best result of the
season so far. Sykes was running eighth going into the final lap, but
unfortunately conceded two places late on. In race two, Reiterberger
initially dropped back to seventh, but was always in touch with the
leading group. Sykes fell to ninth place after the start, but soon
climbed into eighth place behind Reiterberger. Both riders passed Leon
Haslam (GBR / Kawasaki) in the final stages of the race. Reiterberger
crossed the finish line in sixth place again, followed just 0.014
seconds later by Sykes in seventh.
Quotes after the races at Assen.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “We
can be very happy with the race weekend at Assen. We are continuing to
move in the right direction and are closing in on the front-runners.
Markus, in particular, took a very big step forward. With third place
on the grid and two top-six finishes, he has shown that he is feeling
more and more comfortable on the RR. Tom’s results do not reflect his
performance. In Superpole, the red flag cost him a place towards the
very front of the grid. The two races were not easy for him, starting
from sixth place. I am sure, under different circumstances, that his
results could have been better. After back-to-back races in Aragón and
Assen, we now have a four-week break before the next round at Imola.
We will use that time to work on more updates for our new BMW S 1000
RR, to ensure that we continue to move forward.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “It’s been a very positive weekend for Markus and after
quite a difficult Aragón round, he has turned things around here at
Assen. He really deserves his two sixth-place race finishes and his
third position for both starts. The hard work paid off and he finally
found a good direction to carry forward with; hopefully this is
transferable to Imola and he can pick up where he’s left off here at
Assen. So: well done, Markus. Tom’s a little bit frustrated. The red
flag in Superpole put him on the second row while it could have been a
front row start. He had two average starts in the races and it took
him too long to get back into a strong position again, so both races
where difficult for him. Race one in particular, because he overrode
the front, lost all the grip of the front tyre and so the lap times
got slower and he ended up going backwards. In the second race he
tried a SC0 rear tyre which he didn’t get working hard enough, he came
strong in the race too late but he managed to pick off Leon Haslam to
get seventh at the flag and almost beat his team-mate. We will take
the positives from Assen, four strong points scoring positions overall
and we are looking forward to Imola.”
Markus Reiterberger: “I am really happy. The weekend
at Assen was great and a big thank you goes to my team for their hard
work. We have taken another step and I felt really good on the RR all
weekend. I got off to a great start in the opening race and was able
to match the pace at the front of the field for the first few laps.
After seven or eight laps, however, I had a few issues with the grip
on the rear tyre – there was quite a lot of movement entering and
exiting the corners. I took wider lines and consequently made two
mistakes, and at one point I was forced off while overtaking. Despite
that, however, I was able to finish in the top six. The second race
also went well. We made a few changes to the balance of the bike.
Unfortunately, my start was not so good in race two and we lost a few
positions. I was able to maintain the same level for a relatively long
time. In the end, I fancied myself to finish fifth, but I lost a lot
of time behind (Leon) Haslam. That allowed (Chaz) Davies to escape in
fifth place. We can now recharge our batteries a bit and prepare for
the next races. We are heading in the right direction and will
continue to work on further improving the chassis.”
Tom Sykes: “Everyone has seen the potential of the
BMW S 1000 RR is high considering how early the project is. Although
the positions weren’t what I was hoping for today, on the positive
side we have gained a lot of information. I was able to see where I am
losing out and during the race that confirmed it. We will try to
improve now where we are missing out and moving forward we know that
we will progress on this in the next race. Markus rode really well
today; I knew he would be strong from his race here last year on the
Superstock bike. One of the positives we can take forward is that in
general the RR is heading in the right direction. We have been
consistently around five seconds from P2 in most races so given my
experience and the level of the whole BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, I
think we will get to where we need to be through the season.”