– BMW SBK Aragon Test
The BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK team conducted two more days of testing at Spanish “Motorland Aragón” this week. Factory riders Marco Melandri (ITA) and Chaz Davies (GBR) mainly worked on the chassis and engine of their BMW S 1000 RRs. They were able to evaluate several settings and updated parts despite the fact that, unfortunately, weather conditions were not ideal in the north of Spain.
On Wednesday, rain showers often resulted in the track being wet. Today (Thursday) it was sunny but with very strong winds. The air temperature reached 16 degrees Celsius while the highest track temperature was about 25 degrees Celsius. In total, Marco and Chaz completed 263 laps or 1353 kilometres of testing on the RRs. Next week, the team will head to Portugal for the sixth round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship which will take place from 7th to 9th June at Portimão.
Marco Melandri: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
“The weather made testing pretty difficult. Yesterday we had rain showers and today it was very windy, so we mainly worked on trying new ideas regarding the set-up of the RR. We found some improvements and I think that we now have a better understanding in which direction we need to go with the 17-inch tyre. But for sure we still have more work to do in order to further improve and to find the perfect set-up.”
Chaz Davies: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
“Yesterday, we tried some basic things. Today we were hoping to do a little bit more but it was incredibly windy. We tried to test as best as we could with the high winds and in fact we found a couple of ideas which seem to help a little bit. We learnt a few things about the bike and about the new parts we had to evaluate. They appear to be promising. We also improved a little bit on the electronics for wheelie control. So overall it was a positive test, but I just wish that the weather had been a bit better.”
Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team): “It is always good to test at this time of the season even if it requires a lot of effort from everybody because the schedule is tight. But it was important because we wanted to work on the few issues we had during the last race. We took the chance to do some test work which we don’t have the time for during race weekends. Both riders could evaluate an update on the engine and also some update parts for the chassis. Even if the weather did not help, all was going well and both riders were able to test all the items and to give a precise and clear feedback to the technicians and engineers. Working on the chassis set-up, we tried to improve the front end feeling for Marco and to improve the rear grip on Chaz’ side in order to allow both riders a more consistent performance. Both riders also evaluated a new engine specification which is promising but we still need to have a deeper analysis.”
