Riders Steve Martin, Kevin Curtain and Jeremy McWilliams tested the BMW S1000RR on the German track, which had been part of the WSBK tour until last season. All three riders say that the bike already has the good basis of a Superbike racer. Data from the two days of testing were compared with the 2007 Lausitzring race results.

Just eight months after BMW Motorrad Motorsport announced its entry in the 2009 WSBK championships, general manager Berti Hauser says he is pleased with the team’s progress.

“I am very happy with the professional way all three riders worked and the amount of feedback they have given us,” says Hauser. “We are under no illusions of the amount of work we have to do before the start of the season next year, but we are ready and looking forward to facing this huge challenge,

“Up to now, we have done very little work on the electronics and have preferred to get the bike’s basic working well and I think we have achieved that. If our project continues at this good pace, I think we could surprise a few people next year.”

BMW Motorrad is also at work constructing a new test facility for the team and its partner, Alpha Technik, in the small German town of Rosenheim, southeast of Munich. The state-of-the-art facility will be equipped with two dynos – one for the bike and another which simulates racetracks from around the world. BMW’s Off-Road and Enduro teams will also be housed in the new facility.

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