Farewell to the Superbike World Championship - Reiti takes two points home from race two after P4 in Warm up
The curtain of the WorldSBK season 2019 fell today with the last of three racing days at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. With no doubt this has been no easy season for Markus Reiterberger. Therefore it felt good that the 25-years-old was able to finish the season, with its highs and lows, with a quite good weekend in Qatar.
After two successful first days also the third and last day of the FIM MOTUL Superbike world championship 2019 was a positive one in the desert, at the gates of Doha. Reiti finished the Warm up session in fourth position, but temporary was even riding in third. He then had a quite good start into the 10-lap-sprint race. Unfortunately the Bavarian was not able to pass the riders in front of him and lost some positions in the turmoil of the first corners. It’s been the same procedure for the start into the second race. Reiti was stuck between two other riders and his good start into the race was ruined by an evasive move. He then rode a lonely race. Just at the middle of the finale session Reiterberger was able to overtake three of his competitors and collected two important championship points at his final run with the BMW S 1000 RR for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team.
Markus Reiterberger finishes his WorldSBK season 2019 with 83 points in 14th position in the overall standings. This means he is holding a position within the first half of all WorldSBK protagonists of 2019 (28 competing riders made it into the points system this year). Reiti wants to thank his team, his sponsors and supporters, his friends and fans and of course his family, for giving him this opportunity this year and for always supporting him. Reiti is leaving into the well-deserved break now and will come back with news about his future plans soon.
Markus Reiterberger, WUP - P4, Superpole Race - P15, Race 2 - P14: „We had adjusted the bike for the Warm up and it went really well for me. I was holding third position for a long time and finished the session in fourth. This felt really good. I had a quite good start into the sprint race. The first few laps were turbulent as always. Unfortunately I lost one place with each acceleration-phase. It was very difficult to overtake someone. The BMW S 1000 RR is really sovereign in the corner entries, but you can’t use that in the pile up with other riders and then you lose speed. I also had a good start into the race two, but I got swallowed from traffic and was stuck in between two other riders. I had to go extremely wide to make room, which cost me some positions. I rode a quite lonely race until the end and I tried to pass some of the other riders. I finally did with three of them. During the Warm up this morning I still had a fantastic feeling. Unfortunately this was gone during the first two corners. At least I was able to save two points from the second race and I had a bit of an updraft on my last weekend with the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, which makes me leave into the break now with a better feeling. I had a wicked time and I am grateful to everyone who gave me this opportunity. I wish the project all the best and maybe I can be part of it again somehow at some point in the future. Thanks to my team, to my sponsors, my supporters and to all, who stayed by my side this season.“