WSBK – WSBK Guide: teams, drivers and challenges for the 2012 season – BMW: a new chapter

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WSBK guide: teams, drivers and challenges for the 2012 season

WSBK - WSBK Guide: teams, drivers and challenges for the 2012 season - BMW: a new chapter

The World Superbike Championship (WSBK) is playing its 25th season this year! Site will cover the events almost live every Sunday, but now invites you to discover the forces in the presence of the WSBK 2012. Practical Guide.

BMW: a new chapter

A page is turned this year for the BMW World Superbike project: the S1000RR launched in 2009 gives way to a revised and corrected version. Troy Corser, present since the beginnings of the German bombing, has retired. And Marco Melandri and Andrea Dosoli – respectively rider and team manager at Yamaha in 2011 – make their appearance in the BMW organization chart…

In 2012, however, we find ourselves riding a BMW – only one per driver this year! – 2010 vice-world champion Leon Haslam, who disappointed a little last year: three third places as the best result, against 14 podiums including three victories the previous year on the GSX-R of the Alstare team…

In 2011, the "Pocket Rocket" mostly oscillated between 4th and 9th place and collected 224 points over all 26 races on the calendar. His fifth place in the championship is objectively not a disaster, but we expected better from him and that of a motorcycle that had crushed the Superstock Cup in 2010…

To believe the comments of n ° 91 however, the S1000RR never stopped progressing in 2011, in particular at the level of an electronics managed 100% internally by the official BMW Motorrad team, unlike the other teams – including BMW Italia! – who get their supplies from Magnetti Marelli.

And precisely: at the end of January, the BMW team went to the Valencia track in order to "work on updating BMW software". According to the official statement, the team would"further improved electronics and dynamic management modes"… To be checked using a stopwatch during the last official tests which will take place at Phillip Island on February 20 and 21 !

In the meantime, Haslam wants to be reassuring, as always: "we have really made great progress and are much further ahead than last year. We have a really good set and have five days of testing in Australia to put everything in order".

In any case, it’s mechanical: never has the BMW S1000RR been so close – in time – to winning its first World Superbike race! But will it just have to wait a handful of days or weeks, wait a few months, or endure several more seasons? ?

Best "beginner" in the discipline last year, rookie Marco Melandri could well grant the wishes of his new team. The Ravenna Hedgehog did as strong as Max Biaggi in his own WSBK debut (2007, on Suzuki) with second place in the championship from his first appearance, scoring no less than four wins.

This is to say if the 2002 GP250 champion seemed totally at ease on his R1! Unfortunately, following the withdrawal of Yamaha, Melandri had to find a new handlebars for 2012 and he finally fell for the new S1000RR…

"Before I tested it for the first time some people scared me very much because I had some bad experiences with the Ducati in 2008", do not hide Marco."When I first rode it I discovered a few tricky areas, but I was also very pleasantly surprised by many positive aspects.".

At the end of the tests in Spain, the Italian found "encouraging"the progress made in terms of electronics, but complained of a lack of confidence at the entry of the turn which prevented him from attacking fully. However the layout of Phillip Island is one of the most demanding of the season on this precise point … He will have to work well during the final tests !

However, the runner-up (GP125 in 1999, MotoGP in 2005 and WSBK in 2011) is not too worried because he considers himself to be better in the race than during the winter tests or the tests and qualifying phases: "I love to run, as soon as a race starts I always try to give a little more than during the tests", he explains.

Marco Melandri’s watchword in 2012 is simple: have fun above all else! "I would like to play good battles, record good results and feel good on the bike", he sums up:"the results will follow".

Two other Italians will also drive an S1000RR within the structure – also Italian – sponsored by Goldbert. Ayrton Badovini, 2010 Superstock champion with the first version of the BMW sports car, proved to be very good last year and is logically going on a second tour.

Often ahead of Corser and sometimes even faster than Haslam, Badovini only missed the Top 15 twice in 2011 and scored 165 points in total. Tenth in the general classification, the Piedmontese finally made a name for himself in the category after a very discreet season in 2008 on Kawa…

In 2012, Ayrton will try to enter the Top 5 in the race. But the task will not be easy, because in addition to the drivers of the opposing teams, the n ° 86 of BMW Italia will have to be wary of the experienced Michel Fabrizio, with whom he will henceforth share his box….

If in 2011 Badovini did not have to fear a direct comparison with – the shadow of – James Toseland for a long time, it will undoubtedly be otherwise with Fabrizio! Third in the WSBK 2009 behind Spies the unbeatable and Haga, his teammate at the time, Michel failed to improve this result on the handlebars of the official Ducati the following year (8th).

The Ducati factory out of the race in 2011, the n ° 84 found refuge with Alstare with whom the Italian had won the Superstock 1000 title in 2003. Unfortunately, sorely lacking in support from Hamamatsu, Fabrizio and his team yet well placed in the middle of the season have completely relaxed at the end of the summer.

This year, "Hurricane Mich" will have a state-of-the-art motorcycle benefiting from the support of the Italian subsidiary, but also of the parent company. No excuse therefore in 2012 for the pilot who will celebrate his 28th birthday on September 17th. An age finally far from being high, especially if we compare it to those of the last world champions of the discipline, Spies and Toseland excepted !

Finally, a fifth musketeer will roll on BMW this year: Mark Aitchison. The Australian driver will have, at least for the first two races, a 2011 S1000RR – "with key data and development of the BMW Italia team", he specifies.

But "once we are settled, we can use the 2012 model and use all the development accomplished on the 2011 model"assures the ex-member of the Kawasaki Pedercini 2011 team, author of two Top 10 on the handlebars of the then brand new Ninja.

During this first season in WSBK, the n ° 8 – but "18" in 2012 – finished ten times in the points, finally collecting 36 points – that is to say "only" six less than his teammate Roberto Rolfo, however vice- GP 250 champion in 2003 and 2010 Malaysian GP winner in Moto2.

19th in the general classification and last among the permanent members of the discipline, Aitchison will be keen to do better in 2012. The opening round, at home in Australia, will perhaps allow him to start off on the right foot – the one he does not. has not had to look after this winter – and to hang a good wagon? Response very soon on Site !

BMW teams

  • # 33
    WSBK: 26 starts, 15 podiums including 4 wins, 1 pole

  • # 91
    WSBK: 112 starts, 23 podiums including 3 wins, 1 pole
  • # 84
    WSBK: 157 starts, 33 podiums including 4 wins, 1 pole

  • # 86
    WSBK: 58 starts
  • # 18
    WSBK: 26 starts

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