Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport used the break between the successful season opener and the second round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship for testing. The team conducted a two day test at Motorland Aragón, close to the Spanish town of Alcañiz. The two factory riders, Marco Melandri (ITA) and Leon Haslam (GBR), completed a total of 1,160 kilometres of testing on their BMW S 1000 RRs.

Leon is recovering well from the fracture of his tibia that he sustained on 20th February during the official Infront testing at Phillip Island (AUS). The fracture was fixed with two screws just one day before the first race weekend started. Nevertheless, Leon successfully took part in the first two races of the season. As the healing process is going well, he was able to jump on his RR for testing at Motorland Aragón.

Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport used the two days to work on several areas: They shook down a new engine spec, worked on the chassis by testing different solutions for the rear-end of the bike and also worked on electronics strategies. The weather conditions were good for this time of the year – a cold wind was blowing, but the sun was shining.

Next week, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport will travel to Imola (ITA) where the second round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place from 30th March to 1st April.

Marco Melandri:
“It was a good test. I was happy with the bike. The team did a good job with the new engine spec. It feels more powerful in top revs and we have been working on improving the power delivery. I think we had a good test. Of course we will only know where we are when we are racing with the other guys, but we are improving the bike step by step. We also successfully worked in other areas, for example we also made some modifications regarding the swing arm and the chassis. I am sure that we are going in a good direction.”

Leon Haslam:
“It was good to get back on the bike. My leg is getting better day by day. It is still a little sore and I can’t walk on the leg yet, but it is a lot better than it was in Australia and it should be nearly 100 percent okay for Imola. Technical wise we got through a lot of things and we got some good information from all the parts that we tried. We did not concentrate on lap times but on the new parts and I am pretty happy with the result.”

Andrea Dosoli (Head of Race Operations):
“Overall, the test was positive. We could verify Leon’s condition and we are now sure that he will be fit and ready to fight in Imola. It was also positive from the technical point of view, because we could shake down the new engine and confirm all the information collected on the dyno. We now are confident that we are in a good position for Imola. Overall, it was a successful test and we are ready for the next round.”

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