The journey to the start of the 2011 World Superbike Championship continues for BMW Mottorrad Superbike Team Italia with the participation in an official test at Portimao.The weather conditions strongly affected the progress for teams and riders, including James Toseland and Ayrton Badovini, as everyone made the most of track time in changing conditions between sunshine and rain. The wet Autodrome Algarve track was not the place to take unecessary risks with less than a month to the first round of the series which will be held Feb. 27 at the Australian circuit of Phillip Island. As expected with the changeable conditions, the test progress was slower than planned for the team, which is in its first year in Superbikes. James has covered 91 laps in the three days while Ayrton has managed 95.
Serafino Foti, team manager of BMW Motorrad Superbike Team Italy said: “The weather conditions have affected the test considerably, slowing our work programme. We had to adapt to the weather and make the best use of the track time available. Next week, the containers with our bikes will leave for Phillip Island. We have much work to do before the race and we still have two tests of two days each. We will work to optimize our current technical package. We are, however, satisfied with the team who worked with great professionalism and put our riders at ease”.
Results: 1° Smrz (Ducati) 1’43″503 – 2° Rea (Honda) 1’43″676 . 3° Laverty (Yamaha) 1’43″707 – 4° Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’43″770 – 5° Checa (Ducati) 1’43″789… 11° Toseland (BMW) 1’44″764 … 16° Badovini (BMW) 1’45″678.
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