The meeting in Portimão was not the easiest venue for the BMW team B-Max-Racing for their debut in the Superbike World Championship. Nevertheless, it was astonishing how Gabriele Ruiu performed almost in series trim with an M1000RR
The result lists at the meeting in Portimão do not cast a good light on Gabriele Ruiu, who made a guest start in Portugal with his BMW team from the Italian Championship (CIV): last of the Superpole, failures in the two main races and 15th place in the Superpole race.
But you have to know: The M1000RR only complied with the CIV regulations. The swing arm and rims were series components, the engine was only slightly optimized. The Italian also had to do without the sensitive SBK electronics in Portimão. There was no upstream test. Ruiu only had track knowledge from the 2019 Supersport World Championship when he finished twelfth in the race.
«We are excited about this experience. At the beginning we were a bit nervous, but after the first training we felt like going to the Superbike World Championship, ”the team announced on their Facebook account. «We started with the bike in series configuration for the CIV and with a very young team. Nevertheless, we were able to set good times in the race. “
For information: In the second race, the 21-year-old Ruiu drove his personal fastest lap in 1: 44.502 minutes faster than the Kawasaki drivers Tito Rabat, Loris Cresson and Lachlan Epis.
If you take into account the quality of the material and the driver, this also puts the gap to the fastest race lap of record world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) in 1: 41.309 minutes into perspective.
The young team competed in the Italian Superbike Series (CIV) and the National Trophy for the first time this year. Because of encouraging results (Top-5 in the CIV, victories in the Trophy), team manager Massimo Buna dared to make a guest start in the Superbike World Championship. After Portimão, Buna feels empowered to work on a future in the Superbike World Championship.
“In the first race, unfortunately, a defect forced us to give up – and in the second race, the fall of another driver led to the gear lever on our motorcycle breaking. Nevertheless, we are pleased with the results achieved and we are proud of our driver and the entire team, ”it continues. «We go home with a lot of experience. We’ll try to be stronger and more competitive in the Superbike World Championship next season. “
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