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BACK IN BRITAIN FOR WSBK

30/07/2010

After a break of three weeks, the Superbike World Championship returns to Great Britain and Silverstone Circuit from 30 July to 1 August for the tenth of this year’s 13-round series. With MotoGP and Formula 1 having already visited the heavily revised circuit in 2010, one thing that’s apparent is that there are plenty of good overtaking opportunities and high-speed, flowing corners well suited to motorcycle racing.

Consequently, the WSBK riders will be relishing the challenges of this track that will effectively be new to everyone – and none more so than Troy Corser, who had to sit out the last round at Brno due to injury, so can’t wait to get stuck into the weekend’s race action at Silverstone.

“After my crash in Brno, I have worked a lot on my fitness. I'm really looking forward to riding the new circuit and racing again in the UK, which is like a second home race for me as I spend a lot of time there and am expecting a lot of friends and family over the weekend,” said Troy.

“I have already had the opportunity to look at the new track layout and it looks really good. There are some bumps in the track, especially where new asphalt was laid so the team and I will need to find a good set-up to cater for those issues. I expect that the S 1000 RR will suit the track’s characteristics – we have been working hard on suspension set-up, and the bumps seem to present no great problem. There is no doubt that power is going to be important – because there are many long straights – but there are also some long sweeping turns, where the tyres are loaded on one side for a long time, therefore throttle connection and power delivery will play a big role.”

For BMW Motorrad Motorsport team-mate Ruben Xaus, the last round at Brno was almost perfect, with his best ever qualifying position and finish on the BMW in race one, before pushing too hard in race two and crashing out while defending what could have been his first podium finish on the S 1000 RR. Knowing that he really missed out on a golden opportunity in Brno, Xaus is more determined than ever to be running at the front at Silverstone.

"Brno was a positive weekend for me. Although I fell in the second race, the team and I can be extremely proud of our performance,” said Ruben. “We proved that we are competitive and that we can run with the top riders. I just hope we can maintain this rhythm for Silverstone. I have some good memories from the old layout as I managed to make the podium several times, so I am really looking forward to getting back there. I have only seen the new track layout from the bits of racing I have seen on TV but it looks great. It’s a really fast and following circuit which normally suits my style so I am looking forward to trying it. Some parts of the new track seem quite bumpy from what I have seen, but if that is the case it will be the same for everyone. We just need to focus on finding a good set-up that works well with the track and then hopefully I can run at the front like in Brno.”

Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Berthold Hauser knows that with so many British riders running in this year’s WSBK championship, the competition will be even hotter than usual at Silverstone, especially with the passionate home supporters and the extra addition of the usual British wildcards.

“We are all really looking forward to Silverstone. Racing history was written at Silverstone, and it’s not called the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ for nothing,” said Hauser. “Last year we raced at Donington so it will be interesting to go to a new track and see how we perform. It’s great to see both Troy and now Ruben riding to their full potential on a bike that is always improving. There have been some extensive alterations to the circuit in recent months, with whole new sections of track being added. This will make for an interesting weekend as not many riders have even seen, let alone ridden the new layout.”