Magny-Cours. Tom Sykes (GBR) claimed another WorldSBK podium
for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and the new BMW S 1000 RR. Sykes
ended an exciting Saturday race at Magny-Cours (FRA) in third place,
having actually led the race in the early stages. His team-mate
Markus Reiterberger (GER) endured a difficult Saturday, finishing in
16th place. Magny-Cours is the venue for round eleven of
the 2019 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK).
The morning’s Superpole was delayed by half an hour
due to a dirty track. Earlier rainfall meant conditions were still wet
and the special qualifying tyres could not be used. Sykes was sixth
fastest on his RR, earning him a spot on the second row of the grid.
Reiterberger qualified 19th.
By the start of the race at 14:00, the majority of the track was
dry. Starting from sixth place, Sykes soon worked his way through the
field and took the lead on his RR on lap two. He fended off all the
attacks from behind and held onto first place in a
fiercely-competitive leading group until lap six. The battles for
position continued at the front of the field, and initially saw Sykes
drop back to fifth place. When Michael van der Mark (NED / Yamaha)
crashed out of the lead, Sykes adopted fourth place. However, the Brit
was not happy with that position and pulled off a courageous manoeuvre
on the penultimate lap to overtake Frenchman Loris Baz (Yamaha) and
went on to claim another podium in third place. Reiterberger came home
16th, narrowly missing out on the points by just 0.3 seconds.
Quotes after race one at Magny-Cours.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director:
“Tom’s third place is a strong result after chaotic weather conditions
on Friday and Saturday morning. The practices on Friday, which took
place in unsettled weather, were positive for Tom, although that was
not reflected directly in the results. We were not able to take full
advantage of our qualifying performance on wet tyres, as we did not
select the ideal tyre type in the unsettled conditions. We had
targeted the front row of the grid, but Tom at least managed to limit
the damage with sixth place. Tom’s first lap was simply fantastic. By
lap two we were running P1. From then on, the race was very eventful
and full of changes. In all the commotion, we dropped back to fifth
place. However, Tom delivered a really strong performance in the
closing stages too, which allowed us to claim our next podium finish –
with a little help from our rivals. That is very pleasing and confirms
that our updates are performance-enhancing. Markus has been struggling
with his confidence in the set-up of his RR all weekend.
Unfortunately, he was also plagued by a problem with the electronics
in the race which made his performances look worse.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “Tom was disappointed with superpole. We were happy
with the result; Tom was focused on the front row but unfortunately we
made the wrong choice in the tyre, nevertheless we were pleased with
P6. Markus really struggled with the bike and felt as though he was
riding on ice which reflected in his time. Unfortunately this
continued into the race and he was too far back to really make an
impact. Overall, race one was probably the best race of the season.
Tom took the lead and battled really well, he conserved his tyre well
and set a solid pace and maintained that pace to the very end. As
expected, he got closer to the front guys towards the end of the race
and picked off Loris Baz in the final few laps so we are extremely
happy to add another podium to the season. We have gained a lot of
information ahead of tomorrow and taken a great step forward in the
development of the BMW S 1000 RR which is a credit to the whole of the
BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team.”
Tom Sykes: “It was an eventful race and an absolute
pleasure. I really enjoyed riding that one. A credit to the whole
team; we’ve made some changes to the bike in between Portimão and here
and it’s just nice as I am able to do things a little bit better on
the track. I really enjoyed that race, especially in the beginning,
battling with a few guys and just feeling in a better position and
being able to fight. The chassis and the tyre really stayed consistent
throughout the race. Certainly we need to find a little bit in some
areas but overall a podium with just the two Kawasakis in front is
really promising here given that we are only ten months into the
programme. I am really, really happy with our efforts and hopefully we
can keep this pace for tomorrow.”
Markus Reiterberger: “Unfortunately, I had issues
with the electronics in practice this morning. As a result, I was only
able to complete four or five laps when the track conditions were a
bit drier. However, that was still good enough for 13th place. It then
poured down again in the Superpole. As I spent more time than anyone
on the track in these conditions yesterday, I did hope that this might
play into my hands, however, I did not feel at all comfortable on the
bike. The rear wheel was like riding on soap and I was unable to get
any purchase. It was very difficult to ride. 19th place on the grid is
not where I want to be starting from. Unfortunately, I did not get off
to a good start in the race. It was generally very difficult to ride,
partly because I had electronics problems again. I really hope that we
identify the issue quickly and are soon able to find something that
helps me.”