Alastair Seeley’s third place in the Pirelli National 1000cc Superstock class was the stand out performance for Tyco BMW during today’s opening round of the 2015 season at Donington Park. Although huge credit must be given to his British Superbike team-mates Michael Laverty and Tommy Bridewell – who secured four top ten finishes between them on the all-new BMW Motorrad S 1000 RR.
Laverty said: “I am very satisfied with our day’s work at Donington Park. The whole Tyco BMW team pulled together following a tough practice and qualifying, and following a late night they delivered me a revised electronic and throttle strategy for morning warm up.
“I rode my first lap out of the pits with a smile on my face as I knew the team, with the help of the BMW Motorrad guys, had cracked it; a superb effort all round.
“Race two was excellent: I finished the race 8.7 seconds off the win, but I was 8.7sec down after six laps, so I lost nothing on the front guys whilst scrapping my way through the field. I’m excited to see what we can do once the team really get their teeth into the BMW S 1000 RR before round two at Brands Hatch.”
Tommy Bridwell said after his sixth and eighth place finishes: “We got ourselves out of a bit of a hole in both races. Obviously race one was a little bit stronger, but at least we know where we are going wrong now. We have to take the positives away from the weekend: we qualified 17th but came away with a sixth and an eighth and we have time to improve things even further for the next round.”
Alastair Seeley said of his Pirelli National 1000cc Superstock podium: “It all felt like being back in Supersport again, we had such a big battle with Hudson and Josh. I got a great start on the Tyco BMW S 1000 RR but as you expect in this class there was plenty of hard racing. I led onto the last lap and my plan was to ride defensive but Hudson came past at McLean’s, which was a bit of a surprise, but we didn’t panic.
Unfortunately we had a little hiccup with the bike on the last lap, as it starting surging a little and it probably cost me the win at the end, but I’m not going to complain. We’ve made massive progress since the first test and there’s plenty to come from both myself and the bike, so I can’t be disappointed with a podium in my first race.
Philip Neill – Team Manager: “Looking back at our first official BSB weekend as Tyco BMW, we are determined to take the positives from the experience and use what we learned to help us progress for round two at Brands Hatch.
“It’s fair to say this was a difficult weekend and perhaps that was inevitable as we still have so much to learn about our new BMW Motorrad S 1000 RR machines. However, we have an experienced hard working crew and great support from BMW, so I am confident each of our riders will be challenging at the sharp end sooner rather than later.
“Thanks to everyone involved for their efforts in getting us to this point and to each of our riders for their contribution over the weekend. Michael and Tommy both worked extremely hard to fight through the pack from lower start positions, and both showed determination in progressing to solid finishes in both race one and two.
“Alastair Seeley was a little unlucky not to challenge for the race win in Superstock class after we suffered some fuel surge on the final lap. However, he rode a fantastic race and will only get stronger as the season progresses, and I think two S 1000 RR machines on the podium shows the potential of the package.”
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