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23 February 2016

Milwaukee BMW complete pre-season testing at Phillip Island

Milwaukee BMW complete pre-season testing at Phillip Island

Following tests at Jerez and Aragón, the team arrived in Australia to make final preparations before their racing debut in the 2016 FIM World Superbike Championship.

Speaking on Tuesday ahead of his WorldSBK debut in front of home fans, rider Josh Brookes added:

“We made some good progress on Monday, bringing the lap time down step by step. Unfortunately I had a crash, where I had just reached the maximum of the bike and it didn’t offer any more grip. We made a number of changes since then, but we’ve still got work to do for a faster lap.

Today has been a trial and error situation, but somewhere in the data is valuable lap time. It’s been less satisfying than Monday in terms of making progress, but we know that one session could turn the whole bike around.
It’s too early to say where we’ll be in the races, but I think a top eight finish would be realistic. Any less would be under-performing, any higher would be over-performing, so only time will tell.”

Team mate Karel Abraham, also debuting in the WorldSBK series, added:
“This was an important test for me, but unfortunately I missed most of Monday as I had a bad crash in the morning. The team worked hard fixing the bike, but I could only get one lap done in the second session.

This morning I felt uncomfortable with the traction control after my crash, so we played with the set ups to improve it. We managed to get everything set up for the afternoon session and I felt comfortable, but there were lots of red flags and they really slowed us down.

I know I can do a much quicker lap time, but we won’t really know where we are until practice on Friday. Overall it’s been a frustrating test, but it’s been a useful experience and we’ll make progress at the weekend.”

Team coordinator Mick Shanley added:

“It hasn’t been an ideal test for us, but we’ve made some progress in a number of areas and there are others that we know need work. We’ve got some time to work before the weekend now, and we can make big steps in time for Friday.

The weather might be different at the weekend too, but we have to stay positive; it’s our first race in World Superbikes, and as a team we are still testing.”

The first Free Practice session of the year begins on Friday 26th, ahead of races on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th.