13.07.19
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
The GEICO US Round saw a welcome return to action this morning following on from Donington Park just a week ago. Sunny skies greeted the riders at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Tom Sykes was able to take early advantage of this by firmly placing himself into the top 2. Meanwhile, Markus Reiterberger on his return from illness struggled during FP1 as he ended the session in P19 in his first ever outing at the Californian circuit.
In the afternoon’s FP2 session both the pace and the weather hotted up, Tom Sykes started strongly and kept his lap times close to the top of the sheet setting low 1'24.00 laps, he would then go on to post a 1'23.797 putting him in P4 on combined times. Markus Reiterberger managed to get to grips with the circuit and his BMW S 1000 RR during FP2 as he improved on his 1'26.114 to a full second faster (1’25.00) landing him in P15 on combined times at the end of day 1 in USA.
Shaun Muir – Team Principal
“First day on track at Laguna Seca was positive for Tom as he found a good feeling with the bike early on. He set a good pace throughout FP1 to finish P2 behind Jonathan Rea which was good, we then made some minor changes for the second session and tried two different tyre compounds which didn’t really make much of a difference to his lap time. This leaves us with a little bit of work to do overnight to try get some consistency for qualifying and Race 1.
Markus obviously after missing Donington Park through illness took him FP1 to learn the track and find a good feeling with the bike which he struggled with. We made some big changes between the sessions which helped him to go faster by a second which again was a positive step and leaves me optimistic going into FP3 with him tomorrow.
Tom Sykes (GBR)
’I’m enjoying my riding out there at the moment and its always a pleasure to ride here in the USA. The BMW S 1000 RR has worked well around here today. FP1 we ended the session in P2, FP2 we were a little lower in P4, however we missed the slot for fresh tyres so for sure I think we would have been a little further up the board. That being said I am happy to end the day on combined in fourth place. We made a few changes for FP2 and I was experimenting on track with my breaking markers etc. but tomorrow is another day, my target is obviously to keep the podium momentum going following the last two rounds so let’s see where we end up.
Markus Reiterberger (GER)
"The track is amazing and I really enjoyed riding out there. This mornings FP1 session was difficult, first of all I had to learn the track and also find the correct setting to help me get more comfortable on the bike. We made some changes for FP2 which helped and we went a full second faster than what we did in FP1 which is great progress, however we are still some pace from where we want to be. Tomorrow we will have another go an hopefully we can make another step forward in qualifying and the race .
