For the past few days, Markus Reiterberger has been on the road n Valencia, Spain with the BCC-Alpha-Van Zon-BMW team, with whom he will contest the 2022 IDM season, to take part in the shakedown test of the series. When thinking about Spain, you would assume warm spring weather. Reiti and his crew experienced a solely wet rain test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. Therefore the rain set-up for 2022 is ready. The test was successful and, in addition to the adjustments to the motorcycle, was also used to form the new BMW team around Werner Daemen and Andy Gerlich, for who Reiti started last season.
Reiti ended the second and third day of testing as the fastest and is very satisfied with the developments over these three days and the feeling within the team. The 28-year-old will be out testing again next week, this time for the new season of the FIM Endurance World Championship, in which he will compete with the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. In preparation for the start of the season in Le Mans in mid-April, we are heading to the Circuit Bugatti in France.
Markus Reiterberger:
It was quite a wet test in Valencia. Only on the first day the track was 90% dry at the end of the day. We used the day for installation laps and to get to know each other. My time was already quite good on day one with a low 1'37. But I was still struggling a bit with the bike and set the second fastest time of the day. We tried a lot, but the focus was on installing the team. I'm really very happy, because I really liked the atmosphere and the working process and we were able to improve the bike step by step. On the second day I set the fastest time and felt really comfortable despite the heavy rain. We were able to confirm the heavy set-up work with our result. On the third day I was able to improve again and set a time of 1'46.7 with the new rain tyres from Pirelli. It was indeed quite wet over the three days in Spain but as the conditions were stable it was a perfect rain test. For the next test for the IDM, which is to take place at the Lausitzring, I'm hoping for dry conditions in order to create the perfect conditions for the 2022 season. I want to thank my team, who have worked extremely well over the past few days, and of course all my sponsors and supporters for their support. I'm looking forward to the season!