We are finally back on track. The World Superbike Championship 2012 has begun and we have started really well.
In race 1, Marco Melandri (Nolan X-802) surprised everyone with a brilliant comeback from 13th place on the grid to take second place (the best result ever for BMW). The race was not so good for Carlos Checa (X-lite X-802) with a spectacular crash whilst in first place had to abandon ambitions for a win.
Excellent 6th place went to Michel Fabrizio (X-lite X-802), and 14th place to David Salom (X-lite X-802).
In race 2 Carlos, made no mistakes and redeemed himself from race 1 winning for the 21st time in his WSBK career thanks to a great race pace. Marco Melandri was 6th and Fabrizio had a fall with no injuries and was unclassified.
The World Standing sees Melandri in 2nd place and Checa in 4th.
Next race is Imola on April 1st.
Carlos Checa:
“In race one I had the worst crash that I’ve ever had with the Ducati. I was under pressure and pushed a little too hard. It’s extremely difficult to find the exact limit with the bike, the track, and with myself and today I exceeded that limit and fell. The team made a fantastic job of preparing a bike that allowed me to win in race two. In that race, I started strong and when I saw that Max had gone off track, I pushed hard to get ahead and win the race. Max made a good recovery but I was able to maintain a strong pace and bring home what is a very important win for me and for the team.”
Marco Melandri:
“I am really happy! Giving BMW its best ever result in only my first race on the RR is awesome. I still cannot believe that. The guys at the circuit and in the factory are working really hard, and they have done a great job. We didn’t quite know how we would perform in the race as we hadn’t done any long runs in pre-season testing. During the race I just tried to keep my rhythm and tried not to override as I knew I would have to look after the tyres. I had to wait for the right moment to pass Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli. In the final two laps Sylvain was pushing very hard again, but I kept focused on my race and defended my position.
Race two was very difficult. It was warmer, so I had to push harder to catch the guys in front of me, and it was not easy. But we finished the first weekend second in the championship, and that is better than expected. Now we have one month to analyse the data and try to make even more improvements. We will go testing in Spain and all the guys are working hard. We all have the same goal and I very happy to see the motivation is high. Last, I want to send my sympathy to the family of Oscar McIntyre who we lost yesterday.”
Michel Fabrizio:
"With the exception of the start I’m very happy about race one. On the other hand in race two after not starting well again, I lost the front at turn four. I don’t know what caused the crash. I took a slightly different line to usual, but the speed was the same. It's a shame, because I felt comfortable riding the bike as never before. That's racing. We'll bounce back at Imola.”
