BMW Motorrad Motorsport - WSBK - Imola - Qualifying Practice 1
Weather conditions: Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon.
Temperature: Air: 23 – 25 °C, Track: 34 – 39 °C
Number of riders participating: 22 from 14 teams
Fastest lap Free Practice: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:49.070 min
Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:48.178 min
Programme:
Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport started the 12th and penultimate race weekend of the 2010 FIM Superbike World Championship in a solid way: Troy Corser (AUS) finished the first qualifying practice eighth, while his Catalan team-mate, Ruben Xaus, finished the session tenth.
Troy Corser:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:50.179 min (12th) / Fastest lap Qualifying 1: 1:48.851 min (8th)
“The day was not too bad. We are still working on improving the stability of the bike and its performance under braking. The engine feels strong and fast, but a little bit unstable on the exit of the corners. My lap times were not too bad, but at the moment I feel like I am making the bike do the time rather than the bike letting me do it. But I am sure we can solve this. The track’s grip was also a little bit down, so this also makes the bike more difficult to ride. All in all we made some improvements today. As it could rain tomorrow, it was important to get a good lap time in, so we are sure to be in the Superpole qualifying. I was able to push and do the time, so I am reasonably happy.”
Ruben Xaus:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:49.674 min (7th) / Fastest lap Qualifying 1: 1:49.224 min (10th)
“This morning my feeling on the bike was not too bad. In the afternoon we made some changes to it, and I had no grip at all, which meant I had no traction. Because of this it was quite difficult to do a proper lap time. Now we shall try to find a solution for this. The basis is not too bad, and I hope we can make the next step tomorrow to allow me to ride in the low 1:48s. But, of course, this depends on the weather.”
Davide Tardozzi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team Manager):
“Our day was quite good. We worked on the bikes’ setup and simply struggled with the grip level. I am confident we can sort this out for tomorrow and manage to find some rear grip. Unfortunately the race track itself was not in a perfect condition. Nevertheless, our qualifying result is a solid basis for tomorrow. We will now analyse the data and continue working on the bikes.”
