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BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT - WSBK- ASSEN - SUPERPOLE

16/04/2011

Today Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport put in a strong performance, but did not get the reward it deserved. Works riders, Troy Corser (AUS) and Leon Haslam (GBR), will start the third round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship at Assen (NED) from the third row. Troy finished the Superpole Qualifying tenth, and Leon 12th. Before that both riders demonstrated the potential of their BMW S 1000 RRs. They finished all practice and qualifying sessions in top positions, with Troy being fastest in the second free practice. But in the second Superpole session the team suffered unexpected tyre issues.

Troy Corser:

Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:36.322 min (P4) / Fastest lap FP: 1:35.818 min (P1) / Fastest lap Superpole 2: 1:35.954 min (P10)

“On race tyres the bike feels good. We are able to run consistently good lap times and our race pace looks good for tomorrow. Superpole today was certainly disappointing, as we struggled to get the optimum performance from the qualifying tyres. So tomorrow we will have to focus on getting a good start and try and push to run with the riders on the front row. Still I am confident enough in my starts to hopefully achieve that.”

Leon Haslam:

Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:36.455 min (P6) / Fastest lap FP: 1:36.457 min (P6) / Fastest lap Superpole 2: 1:36.089 min (P12)

“Today was a tough day, as we have good race pace and our times on race tyres are good. We have worked on fine tuning our set-up for the race this weekend, and we are happy with the progress we made on that side. Sadly when we put on the qualifying tyres we suffered from some issues that prevented me from going any quicker. It’s a shame to finish up in 12th because my times on race tyres were good enough to get me through to Superpole 3. The qualifying tyre just didn’t work for us today. It’s frustrating because this is the first time I have been off the front row. Still we now need to forget about this and concentrate on the tomorrow’s races.”

Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations):

“Unfortunately in the second Superpole session we struggled with our qualifying tyres. Both riders were affected by this, so we only qualified for the third row. Tomorrow we will try to make the best we can out of it. We are quite confident because our long run performance with race tyres is still very good. I expect very close races - the same as we saw here last year. We have to try to be in the leading group, and then a lot will be possible.”