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+--- Thread: Gulf BMW begin 2018 road racing campaign at Donington Park (/showthread.php?tid=26172)
Gulf BMW begin 2018 road racing campaign at Donington Park - Malcolm - 02-04-2018
![[Image: gulfbmwlogo.jpg]](http://www.ttwebsite.com/gifs/2018/BSB/gulfbmwlogo.jpg)
The Gulf BMW Road Racing Team have completed an important weekend of running at Round 1 of the British Superbike Championship
Formed for 2018 to contest the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT races, the opening BSB round presented a good opportunity for the team and rider David Johnson to run in the BMW S1000RR Superbike and simply gather data. With no pressure to score points or fastest laps, David was able to pound out the laps to collect information and cement his feel for the bike.
The Free Practice sessions ran in mostly wet conditions. A crash in FP3 on Saturday at the bottom of Craner Curves ruled David out of qualifying, along with a number of other riders who were caught out in the treacherous conditions.
A quick turnaround by the team however ensured that he could start Race One, albeit from the back of the grid with an injured left arm. A dry track allowed valuable data to be collected, as David developed his rhythm with the bike in competition for the first time. A break in the rain allowed Monday's Race Two to start just as a drying line was forming. The team opted for intermediate front and rear tyres, providing them with useful information for the bike in mixed conditions.
The team will next run the BMW on April 20th at the Official BSB test at Oulton Park, ahead of Round 3 of the series at Oulton from May 5-7.
Formed for 2018 to contest the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT races, the opening BSB round presented a good opportunity for the team and rider David Johnson to run in the BMW S1000RR Superbike and simply gather data. With no pressure to score points or fastest laps, David was able to pound out the laps to collect information and cement his feel for the bike.
The Free Practice sessions ran in mostly wet conditions. A crash in FP3 on Saturday at the bottom of Craner Curves ruled David out of qualifying, along with a number of other riders who were caught out in the treacherous conditions.
A quick turnaround by the team however ensured that he could start Race One, albeit from the back of the grid with an injured left arm. A dry track allowed valuable data to be collected, as David developed his rhythm with the bike in competition for the first time. A break in the rain allowed Monday's Race Two to start just as a drying line was forming. The team opted for intermediate front and rear tyres, providing them with useful information for the bike in mixed conditions.
The team will next run the BMW on April 20th at the Official BSB test at Oulton Park, ahead of Round 3 of the series at Oulton from May 5-7.
Mats Nilsson - Team Manager
"I think overall we should be pretty happy with this weekend. We hit all of our objectives and got what we needed which was purely laps, track time and data for the two big road races next month.
David has been really good this weekend. He had a spill in FP3 which set us back a little bit, but we didn't lose too much track time thanks to the great efforts of our mechanics. He excelled in the two races and produced really strong performances, there was no stress to score points and it was great to see the bike on track.
Our next outing is the official test at Oulton Park later this month, ahead of the third BSB race there in early May. The goal there will be the same, to get the bike and the team in the best shape for the North West 200 and TT. This has been a really good start for us."
![[Image: davojohnsondonny.jpg]](http://www.ttwebsite.com/gifs/2018/BSB/davojohnsondonny.jpg)
David Johnson #9 - BMW S1000RR
“The weekend started really well in Free Practice and it was useful for me to gel with the bike. We weren't here to set the world on fire and score big, but I had fun learning the bike and focused on getting the laps under my belt. The Superbike S1000RR has been awesome this weekend, and I gelled with it straight away. Even after my crash it performed well, even if I couldn't get everything I wanted from it.
Unfortunately FP3 was a really slippery session and I was caught out at Craner Curves, I don't even know what happened but the bike was damaged and I injured my left rotator cuff. That knocked the wind out of our sails a bit, and from then I had to settle for just completing laps because I wasn't able to push hard in the races.
That said there's a lot of positives for us to take away, and we have some good data going forward. It's been great for the team to bond this weekend and we've worked really well together. Now I can't wait to get back on the bike in a few weeks at Oulton Park where I'll be on the Superstock for the official test."