Following on from a successful test at Andalucía back in December, the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team this week had their first WorldSBK outing at the Circuito de Jerez Ángel Nieto, with riders Tom Sykes and newly crowned STK champion Markus Reiterberger.

Markus and Tom both worked heavily on their test schedule trying out different electronic strategies and various chassis configurations. Despite an early crash from Tom on day-two the BMW duo collected valuable data ahead of the second two-day test on Sunday and Monday in Portimao.

Shaun Muir - Team Principal

“The progress and development of the new S 1000 RR so far has been very positive. From the shakedown test in Andalucía we established a good base setting which gave a clear direction to work on here in Jerez. The SMR team and BMW Motorrad engineers together have done a great job in getting the Superbike to a good level.

Overall I am feeling positive with the way the test went, for Markus it was important that he completed his programme which he did, so this is a good step for him going into the second test. Tom also made good progress on day one, unfortunately he had an early crash on day two which set him back in terms of his test schedule, but he will get to complete the rest of his schedule over at Portimao in just a few days’ time."

Tom Sykes (GBR)

“So far we’ve had a really successful run of tests, Andalucía we gained lot of valuable information so moving into day one at Jerez I couldn’t have asked for much more. Things were working smoothly and even the lap times we did were competitive considering it was the third day of the set up.

Day two obviously we had a little setback and basically lost a day of testing, but I have to say it was minor detail considering the positives that we’ve taken from the project so far.

The feedback from the new S 1000 RR has been really consistent and the whole team have been working in the right direction, so going Portimao now we try and continue to work in the same way."


Markus Reiterberger (GER)

"I am quite happy with the way test went in Jerez. We tested a lot of things for my positioning on the bike and made some changes to my foot pegs and handlebars, this was a problem before but now I feel a little bit better.

We followed the schedule for Jerez which is good, tested a lot on the brakes, suspension and the electronics and made good progress with that. I am still not fully confident to make fast laps but we are working on it, today I have a meeting with my new crew chief so we can make a plan ahead of the second test.

I think going into Portimao now we need to make another few adjustments to my position, so I can achieve 100% feeling with my bike. We will also check the swing arm again and make some geometry changes, but overall I happy with the way the test went.”



BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team livery reveal

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team invites the media to a meet and greet on Monday 28th January in Portimao. At 10am both Markus Reiterberger and Tom Sykes will be present to reveal the 2019 new colours in the pit box, before completing laps around the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve for the media.