Jerez de la Frontera, 5th April 2013. Before tackling the second round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship next weekend, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team conducted two days of testing this week. The test took place at Spanish track, Jerez de la Frontera. After recovering from his shoulder surgery over the last few weeks, factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) teamed up again with his team mate Chaz Davies (GBR). They worked on further optimising several areas of their BMW S 1000 RRs. For Marco the test also offered the perfect opportunity to evaluate his physical condition ahead of the next round. The team used the two days at the track to further develop the electronic strategies that were successfully introduced at the Jerez test in the middle of March. In addition, Marco and Chaz tried new chassis parts and worked on engine development. Unfortunately, despite the mild temperatures, the weather conditions were not ideal for testing and the track was declared mainly wet today and Thursday. Consequently, track time was reduced for the two factory riders. In total Marco completed 101 laps and Chaz completed 74 laps, a combined total of 755 kilometres of testing on the RRs. The second round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place from 12th to 14th April at Motorland Aragón (ESP). The Superstock squad of the BMW Motorrad GoldBet Team was also testing this week, at Motorland Aragón. Reigning Superstock champion, Sylvain Barrier (FRA), and his new team mate Greg Gildenhuys (RSA) conducted three successful days of testing in preparation for the 2013 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, which is due to start at the Spanish venue in one week. The team will ride the brand new BMW HP4 in this series and after the positive test, the squad is well prepared for the season opener at Motorland Aragón. Marco Melandri: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR “The severe pain that I suffered in my bone has gone so it was a good test for me. Obviously at the moment, I am still struggling as I am lacking power and flexibility in the shoulder, but now the muscle only hurts a little bit as it is still is recovering. It looks like I am on the way to full recovery. After the surgery and the long break, I used the test mainly to work on myself and we tried some different electronic strategies. Fortunately we were able to ride some laps in the dry today, even if the conditions were pretty difficult. Overall I am happy with the test because we found some good ideas for the future and I think we are doing a very good job.” Chaz Davies: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR “We have had the same weather that we experienced previously in Jerez, a combination of wet, mixed and dry conditions. What was following us in winter has now continued into spring. It was a bit frustrating as we only got two hours of dry time today, but we did a lot of work in the short space of time we had out on track. I had the chance to test a lot of different things. We evaluated some chassis components, worked again on the electronic strategy and on the power delivery. I think we can be pretty happy and head to Aragón in an optimistic mood. It has also been nice to ride in the week before the next race to stay fresh and now I am excited to get to Aragón.” Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team): “As usual, the beginning of the season is very busy for the whole team. The long break between Phillip Island and Aragón has been very important for our short and medium term development programme and everybody in Italy and Germany is working flat out. As a result of this, we will be able to already introduce some of the items we tested here during the next race weekend at Aragón. Overall, the test was positive. Even if we were not lucky with the weather, both riders could evaluate some of the new electronic strategies, as well as new chassis parts and engine solutions and get familiar with them. For Marco, it was important to jump on his RR again after such a long break and to evaluate the status of the shoulder recovery after his surgery. His feedback has been very useful for our engineers. Chaz could evaluate the improvements made, according to his requests, just 20 days after the last test on the same track. In one week we will be racing in Aragón and we are confident of having a good package. The development is proceeding well but we all have to keep working hard and follow our plan in order to be ready for a very long and tough season.” Serafino Foti (Sport Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team): “The test has been positive despite the bad weather that seems to be following us. We could only work in dry conditions for just over two hours and had to reduce our planned schedule. I am really happy because I could see Marco laughing. He had a very bad winter and after the surgery to his shoulder it finally seems that he is getting better. He won’t be 100 percent fit in Aragón, but the season is long and I am confident that he will make us happy. Chaz’s track time was reduced by the bad weather too, but his feeling with the RR is improving and in Aragón he will fight for the front positions. The Superstock team ended their test with positive results too and we are satisfied. In Aragón, we will see the result of the work we have done over winter. We are confident to be competitive and our target is to defend the Superstock title we won last year.”