BMW Motorrad Motorsport - WSBK - Nürburgring - Races

Nürburgring – Races.

Sunday, 04 September 2011.

Weather conditions: Overcast at noon, heavy rain in the afternoon.

Temperature: Air: 20 – 21 °C, Track: 25 – 29 °C

Number of riders participating: 19 from 13 teams

Fastest lap Race 1: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:55.971 min

Fastest lap Race 2: Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) 2:14.6199 min

This race day at the Nürburging (GER) was not for the faint-hearted. Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport experienced an exciting tenth round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship, including a hectic wet race. Factory rider, Leon Haslam (GBR), finished fifth and ninth on his BMW S 1000 RR. He is now fifth in the riders’ championship with 176 points. His team mate Troy Corser (AUS) came home in 15th and 12th respectively. In the championship he lies 15th with 67 points. In the manufacturers’ standings BMW is fourth with 214 points.

In race one Leon improved from seventh on the grid to fifth during the early laps, pushing to close the gap to the leading group. But on lap seven he ran off the track, re-joined but fell back to 14th. After this mishap, Leon fought his way back in a determined manner, setting extremely fast lap times and showing a series of strong manoeuvres. On lap 13 he overtook three other riders at once, and on the final lap he made it back to fifth. Troy improved from 17th on the grid to 11th, but experienced tyre issues in the second half of the race and finished 15th.

Only minutes before the start of the second race it began to rain heavily. The start had to be delayed by 15 minutes. Leon again gained two positions in the early stages, but unfortunately he was one of many riders who crashed in the worsening conditions. Again, Leon was able to rejoin and he started another fight back from the very end of the field. As the conditions became more and more dangerous and numerous riders fell, the race was red-flagged on lap 14. Leon and Troy were classified ninth and 12th. Ayrton Badovini (ITA) of the BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team finished the heats ninth and seventh. His team mate James Toseland (GBR) was 13th in the first race, but crashed in the second. The races were won by Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes.

In the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race BMW riders were once more successful, with three BMW S 1000 RRs finishing in the top six. Sylvain Barrier (FRA) from the BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock Team finished second on the podium. His team mate, Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA), crossed the line in fourth, Markus Reiterberger (GER) from the Garnier Alpha Racing Team completed the top six.

Leon Haslam:

Result Race 1: 5th / Gap to 1st: 00:09.727 min / Fastest Lap Race 1: 1:56.340 min

Result Race 2: 9th / Gap to 1st: 00:53.586 min / Fastest Lap Race 2: 2:16.672 min

“In race one I had a good start and managed to pass two guys. Then I tried to bridge the gap to Eugene Laverty. I just pushed a little bit too hard, got a false neutral and ran off the track. To be fair, I thought the race was over. But I got my head down and managed to get back to fifth. I am happy to have managed that, but disappointed I ran off. But the battling was certainly fun. In the second race I felt really good. The crash was my fault. I clipped a white line, which in these conditions is not good, and I went down. I managed to get going again and climb all the way up to seventh, but the race was stopped before I crossed the line, the results were taken from the lap before, and so I was ninth. The conditions out there were really bad, and it probably should have been stopped earlier. I think I could have got on the podium today because my times at the end were really good, but it was definitely the right decision to stop the race.”

Troy Corser:

Result Race 1: 15th / Gap to 1st: 00:33.320 min / Fastest Lap Race 1: 1:56.919 min

Result Race 2: 12th / Gap to 1st: 01:15.468 min / Fastest Lap Race 2: 2:16.950 min

“Today has been difficult for sure. The starting position we had made life very difficult, because the first corner tends to spread the field out and you just cannot make the time back. Race two was just so wet and I could hardly see what was going on. The rain was causing me to aquaplane everywhere and I was having some big slides. I saw James Toseland crash in front of me, and then I decided to just keep it upright and finish the best I could. It was the right decision to stop the race because it was becoming very hard to ride safely out there, but I am just happy to have brought it home and score some points.”

Bernhard Gobmeier (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director):

“The first race was very exciting. We had Leon’s run-off that cost him a few seconds, and in the end he these seconds were exactly his gap to the top. On top of that comes the fact that in the closing stages he was doing the fastest lap times. That showed we are heading in a very good direction, and are able to race at the front. In the second race we proved we are also very strong in the wet. Also in these conditions we did top lap times, but the very bad vision and the extremely difficult conditions led to Leon’s crash that hindered us in getting a better result. Maybe it would have been a different story if the race had been stopped earlier and then restarted. To sum it up: No top result, but a positive summary – because we could see that we are definitely competing at the front.”