Lap record and third on the grid at Estoril.
Estoril. At the 2019/20 FIM Endurance World Championship finale, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team is one of the absolute top teams. In qualifying, Markus Reiterberger, Kenny Foray and Peter Hickman secured third on the grid for the ‘12 Hours of Estoril’ with the #37 BMW S 1000 RR. The average time of the fastest laps from each of the individual qualifying sessions was 1:39.370 minutes.
Qualifying on the 4.182 kilometre ‘Circuito do Estoril’ was held in six separate sessions on Thursday and Friday. Each of the three riders completed two 20-minute sessions. It was Reiterberger who set the absolute best qualifying time and a new lap record with the # 37 RR. After he had already been the fastest in his group on Thursday, ‘Reiti’ stepped up on Friday morning and set the fastest time in all qualifying sessions with the new record of 1: 38.447 minutes.
The ‘12 Hours of Estoril’ will start on Saturday at 08:00 local time and end at 20:00.
Quotes after qualifying at Estoril.
Werner Daemen, Team Manager BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team:
“I am happy with qualifying. It is a really good result. We are third, only a few tenths of a second behind second place. I think it was the maximum we could get. With Markus, we set the absolute best lap time so we are very happy. Our three riders also fit together very well and we found a very good set-up for our BMW S 1000 RR. I think we are well prepared for the race. We will give everything and hope for a very good result on the podium.”
Markus Reiterberger
Markus Reiterberger:
“We can be very happy with qualifying. Already yesterday, all three of us did strong laps. We then have further improved the bike for today and I managed to do some really great laps. To set a new lap record is obviously fantastic. Kenny and ‘Hicky’ both also further improved today. We are very confident and looking forward to the race. I think that we can do a good job and hope that we have a clean, trouble-free race. We for sure aim for the podium – or maybe even more.”
Kenny Foray
Kenny Foray:
“Qualifying was not so bad. I still don’t feel exactly like I want to on the bike but I try to find a good feeling and it improved during qualifying and I had more confidence on the bike. I am happy for that. Now we will see how the race will go. We have a good pace and I think we can do a good job. I am looking forward to the race and hope for a good result.”
Peter Hickman
Peter Hickman:
“Qualifying was really good. We’ve made a further big step forward with the bike for today so we all were over half a second faster, which is good. Everyone is really, really happy. My feeling with the bike is good, the circuit is awesome and I absolutely love it. I really enjoy riding around here. The team is doing a fantastic job and we are looking forward to racing tomorrow. I think we are in with a good shout. We qualified third, really close to the front, so we will wait and see what happens.”
