In the current season to date, Troy and team-mate Leon Haslam (GBR) have scored a total of 94 points for BMW. In the constructors’ championship, scored on the basis of only the best individual race result, BMW has 74 points to occupy fifth place. In the riders’ classification, Leon is in fifth position with 68 points, while Troy holds 12th with 26 points. At this ultra-fast Monza circuit, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport intends building on the good performances posted by both riders during practice for the last race weekend in Assen (NED). At the two bases in Munich and Stephanskirchen, the team worked together with Leon and Troy on finding solutions to unlock the full potential of the BMW S 1000 RR for Monza. Previously BMW’s works riders posted the following results in Monza’s Royal Park: Troy has a victory, five podium places, one pole position and twice set the fastest lap; Leon last year scored a podium. Leon Haslam: “I am certainly looking forward to Monza. Last year Troy posted a podium place, and I like the circuit. In addition, I believe it suits our bike. After Assen I sat down with the team, and we worked out our plan for the weekend. We know where we stand with our bike, and what still needs to be done. I am confident that at Monza we will take another step forward. We have already shown we can constantly race in the top five. We need to step up a bit in order to be in a position to fight for podiums and wins. Yamaha and Aprilia will be quick in Monza, but I have confidence in the package we have developed.” Troy Corser: “Last year we had a successful weekend in Monza, managing to celebrate our first podium place for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. From a rider’s perspective Monza is not particularly challenging. Here it depends more upon the performance of the bike. It has fast sectors and zones, in which we need to brake very hard. We need to ensure we overcome the issues we suffered with our tyres during Superpole in Assen on Saturday and during the second race on Sunday. We have worked hard at eliminating these problems. Our performances on hard tyres have shown we are going in the right direction. I am confident that we will be able to build on this in Monza.” Bernhard Gobmeier, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “We are really looking forward to Monza. The team is travelling there with good memories, having scored BMW’s first Superbike World Championship pole position there last season. This fast circuit should suit our BMW S 1000 RR again this year. We aim to continue building on our Friday and Saturday morning performances in Assen. There Troy and Leon proved our competitiveness with some top times. We are extremely confident this will be the case as we head for Italy.” Background: By scoring its first podium place at the famous “Autodromo Nazionale di Monza” (ITA) in Italy last year, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport achieved the first major milestone in its still-young history. The city of Monza has 120 000 inhabitants, and is situated 20 kilometres from the centre of Milan. The Monza circuit is not known only for enormously high top speeds, but also for its long tradition. The race track in the walled ancient Royal Park was opened in 1922. Since then motor-car and -cycle events have been hosted regularly, with no circuit hosting more Formula 1 grands prix than Monza. During its long history, the circuit’s layout was remodelled on numerous occasions. The original layout included an oval, which fell into disuse in 1967. However, the remnants of the steeply angled track are still visible today, providing an insight into the circuit’s early days. The character of the “Autodromo Nazionale di Monza” makes it a unique event on the FIM Superbike World Championship calendar. Here it is all about top speed. The long straights are connected by high-speed corners; however, the current layout also includes slow chicanes. Here the brakes of the BMW S 1000 RR are tested to the absolute limit at Monza. The motorcycle needs to be set up differently to other race tracks, as it needs good manoeuvrability, particularly at slow speeds, while stability under braking from high speeds is paramount. The first chicane is very slow, making it important that riders are able to accelerate cleanly into higher gears. The braking points for both “Lesmos” corners are equally crucial. In the “Parabolica” riders spend a lot of time on the tyre sidewalls, making “edge grip” another important factor to enable maximum speed to be carried into the long main straight.