WorldSBK: Important steps at Cremona
Cremona. The hard work has paid off. At the tenth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) season at Cremona, the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team made an important step forward. Following a difficult weekend at Magny-Cours, France, three weeks ago, BMW Motorrad Motorsport and the team have now succeeded in improving the performance of both BMW M 1000 RRs once again. Miguel Oliveira was running in fifth position after a strong start in Sunday’s second race, while Danilo Petrucci impressed with strong comebacks through the field.
Saturday morning’s Superpole qualifying was something of a lottery as several riders crashed, and the resulting yellow flags repeatedly interrupted the others’ pursuit of fast lap times. That also affected the two BMW Motorrad factory riders, who consequently did not always have a clear track. At the end of the session, Oliveira and Petrucci had qualified ninth and 19th respectively.
In Saturday afternoon’s first main race, Petrucci finished 14th to score two points. Oliveira was one of several riders who slid and crashed out. In Sunday morning’s Superpole Race, Oliveira finished eighth, improving his position on the grid for the second main race. Petrucci made up numerous positions in the ten-lap sprint and took the chequered flag in 11th place.
In the second main race, Oliveira worked his way into the top five after a strong start. However, he then crashed and was unable to convert the potential into the corresponding result. Petrucci once again battled his way through the field with determined overtakes and finished the weekend in 12th place.
Two race weekends remain in the final stages of the season. The action continues from 9th to 11th October at Estoril, Portugal, followed one week later (16th to 18th October) by the season finale at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
Reactions after the Cremona round
“Here at Cremona, we found our way back in the right direction, and the weekend gives us reason for optimism. With Miguel, we could have achieved top-five finishes if it had not been for the crashes. Now we need to continue working on making sure that he can convert this into race results. Danilo is also heading in the right direction, even though we are not yet where we want to be. The most important thing is that both riders are focusing towards the front again. That gives the entire team a boost, but we also know that there is still a lot of work ahead of us. Congratulations to Ducati and Nicolò Bulega on winning the title early. He is a worthy champion and has had an incredible season. We will give everything to make the championship exciting again next year.”
“It was really nice to race in Italy again. The weekend started with difficulties but we gave our maximum. In Sunday’s races, my last ones at home, I made quite a lot of overtakes. The race wasn’t the best, but I fought really, really hard. That’s what I enjoy. I want to thank everyone who came here to cheer for me, and all the BMW crew who are always pushing – they’re the best. I’d like to finish the season strong. I can’t wait to go to the next race; we’ve been testing at Estoril so let’s push there.”
“Cremona was a tough pill to swallow, especially race two. We had a really good pace and track position to achieve an excellent result. Unfortunately, in Turn 10, I took a little more rear brake, the bike started to chatter, and I couldn’t stay on top of it. It’s frustrating, but I think we’re in a better position than we were after Magny-Cours, so that’s already good. It would have been nice to go to my home race with some momentum from a good result, but this won’t take away our determination to have a very good weekend for the Portuguese fans. I’m looking forward to it.”
