PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
The all-new BMW S1000RR arrived on track with the BMW Motorrad Italia team and its lone rider Sylvain Barrier, setting its first laps on the World Superbike race spec today in Jerez, Spain.
“The engine is more powerful and the electronics are a little bit better and now we have to make it work better and see how it is going,” said Barrier. “Even after my first 20-laps I could tell that everything was quite positive and I was around two seconds from the top. All the time that last second is hard to get. But right away the sensation is quite good.”
The bike was almost complete in its basic 2015 race set-up, but had to run 2014 bodywork at this first test as the base of the bike is still so new.
Barrier found immediate improvements in some areas having ridden an Evo bike in 2014, and he stated that there will be more to come. “The electronics are completely different and it is not the final version, we have some modifications coming. The chassis feels more or less the same but it is even easier to change direction.”
BMW will once again make its own electronic package, this time to fit inside the cost capping rules, and the Motorrad Italia team will co-operate with BMW to help create the customer electronics package for other BMW teams. BMW customers will buy the kit and other parts through the racing division in Germany as normal, however.
Barrier, who endured some hard crashes and injuries last season, including a nasty car crash on the road, said he was approaching full fitness after all his trials and tribulations. “I am not quite a 100%. I am still a little bit sore in my foot, but everything is going in the right direction.”
