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Althea BMW concludes the final European winter tests
Portimao (Portugal), Sunday 29 January 2017
Portimao (Portugal), Sunday 29 January 2017
Having concluded a two-day test at Jerez de la Frontera last week, the Althea BMW Racing team was back on track today and yesterday for a further two days of testing, this time at the Portuguese track of Portimao.
Unfortunately, after a crash at Jerez left him with a shoulder blade contracture, Jordi Torres was unable to participate this weekend. His team-mate Markus Reiterberger was therefore joined by Raffaele De Rosa, winner of the Stock1000 championship with Althea in 2016, and on hand to help the Italian squad during this important test. Both Reiterberger and De Rosa worked hard, providing the technicians with a significant amount of data, useful for the continuing development of the BMW S 1000 RR bikes.
Marco Faccani, also injured in a crash at Jerez, decided to ride both today and yesterday. Progress has been encouraging, though he was limited to a certain extent by shoulder pain.
Julien Puffe, who is continuing to get to grips with his new BMW, participated in the test with the newly formed Althea MF84 team, making good progress throughout the two days.
The Althea BMW Racing will be on track at Phillip Island on 20-21 February before the 2017 championship gets underway, with round one taking place just a few days later (24-26 February) at the same Australian track.
Markus Reiterberger
?The test has been tough, but we?ve got a lot done, testing geometry, the Pirelli tyres, many things. I?m still struggling in terms of my feeling with the BMW but I hope to improve on this. I need to work even harder to see the results of the great work that the team is doing. I thank the team for their continuing hard work and hope we can obtain the desired results.?
Raffaele De Rosa
?Coming here was a little unexpected but I?m very pleased to have chance to get back on the bike. The track is a difficult one but we tried to carry out as many tests as possible. Unfortunately I had a small crash around lunchtime and that cut into our time a little but, all things considered, I had fun and hope I?ve been able to provide the team with useful feedback.?