BMW racer Matthieu Lussiana: Champion in Brazil and back in the lead of the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy.

At the penultimate round of the 2015 Brazilian Moto 1000 GP, Matthieu Lussiana won his second title in a row on his BMW S 1000 RR: pole position, victory and fastest lap in Santa Cruz do Sul.

Munich (DE), 28th October 2015. His plan was to defend his title in the Brazilian Moto 1000 GP series (MT1GP STK GP) and he succeeded with one race to go: BMW racer Matthieu Lussiana (FR) was crowned champion for the second time in a row at the penultimate round last weekend at Santa Cruz do Sul (BR). Lussiana once more was the man to beat on his BMW Motorrad Petronas Racing BMW S 1000 RR.

The French rider enjoyed a perfect weekend with the maximum points haul. On Saturday he secured pole position for the seventh and penultimate race of the year. In Sunday’s race Lussiana set the fastest lap time and took the win with an advantage of nearly five seconds over his closest rival. It was his fifth victory of the season. By taking pole position, the win and fastest lap, Lussiana scored another 27 championship points.

Lussiana has won five out of the seven races contested so far this season. In the other two races he finished second on the podium. On all seven occasions he set the fastest race lap on his BMW S 1000 RR. In addition he collected the extra point for pole position on four of the race weekends. He now has 176 points to his tally and has such a big lead that his rivals can’t catch him at the season finale, which will be held on 29th November in Curitiba (BR). For Lussiana, it is the second title win in the series. His BMW Motorrad Petronas Racing Team took the champion’s crown for the fourth time in a row.

With the Race Trophy points he scored in Santa Cruz do Sul, Lussiana also re-took the lead in the 2015 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy (see full rankings below). However, the scores are not yet final. At the end of the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy season all participants will be awarded the bonus points for championship titles, pole positions etc.

Luciano Ribodino (AR) finished the race in Santa Cruz do Sul in fifth position on the second BMW Motorrad Petronas Racing RR. In the GP Light (MT1GP STK LT) race, Lussiana’s and Ribodino’s team-mate Luciano Donato (BR) came home in 11th.

2015 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy – Current Standings.

In 2015 the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy comprises a total of 19 international and national championships. Participants in the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy can compete in multiple championships. The points scored in the different championships are calculated separately for each individual race series. The current standings only include points from the race series in which the participant has scored the most Race Trophy points. You can find all the information on the 2015 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy online at the BMW Motorrad Motorsport website:

www.bmw-motorrad-motorsport.com

Status: 28th October 2015

16. Michael Laverty (GB/BSB SBK/182.86), 17. Lee Johnston (GB/BMW RRC/181.33), 18. Martin Choy (BG/AARR SBK/178.91), 19. Emeric Jonchière (FR/FSBK STK/177.64), 20. Iván Silva (ES/CEV PR/171.20), 21. Marco Nekvasil (AT/EWC STK/167.00), 22. Janez Prosenik (SI/AARR SBK/158.55), 23. Adrián Bonastre (ES/CEV PR/153.60), 24. Pepijn Bijsterbosch (NL/IDM STK/153.14), 25. Peter Hickman (GB/BMW RRC/152.89), 26. Madjid Idres (FR/FR EU/148.92), 27. Tommy Bridewell (GB/BSB SBK/148.57), 28. Florian Drouin (FR/FR EU/147.69), 29. Lance Isaacs (ZA/RSA SBK GP/145.64), 30. Krasen Kanchev (BG/AARR STK/142.89), 31. Uwe Gürck/Manfred Wechselberger (DE/AT/SWC/140.27), 32. Dominik Vincon (DE/IDM STK/133.71), 33. Mike Roscher/Anna Burkard (DE/SWC/132.93), 34. Fabrizio Perotti (IT/CIV/126.40), 35. Matej Smrz (CZ/IDM SBK/125.62), 36. Marek Szkopek (PL/AARR STK/120.56), 37. Nasarudin Mat Yusop (MY/MSC STK/114.96), 38. Alessio Corradi (IT/CIV/107.20), 39. William Dunlop (GB/BMW RRC/106.67), 40. Bartlomiej Wiczynski (PL/AARR STK/105.33), 41. Michael Leon (CA/CSBK PR/100.00), 41. Bastien Mackels (BE/EWC SBK/100.00), 43. Miloš Cihak (CZ/AARR SBK/96.00), 44. Nicholas Kershaw (ZA/RSA SBK GP/90.97), 45. David Johnson (AU/BMW RRC/88.89), 46. Lucy Glöckner (DE/IDM STK/85.71), 47. Pedro Vallcaneras (ES/EWC SBK/84.00), 48. Michal Fojtik (CZ/AARR STK/81.22), 49. Léon Benichou (FR/FR EU/78.77), 50. Dominic Usher (GB/BSB STK/78.55), 51. Lee Jackson (GB/BSB SBK/78.48), 52. Ireneusz Sikora (PL/AARR SBK/77.09), 53. Billy McConnell (AU/BSB SBK/76.19), 54. Hayato Takada (JP/EWC STK/74.00), 55. Denni Schiavoni (IT/CIV/73.60), 56. Nicolas Pouhair (FR/FSBK SBK/62.67), 57. Marco Muzio (IT/CIV/60.80), 58. Gareth Jones (AU/EWC SBK/60.00), 59. Marco Marcheluzzo (IT/CIV/59.20), 60. Michael Rutter (GB/BMW RRC/56.89), 61. Wojciech Wrobel (PL/AARR STK/56.00), 62. Ryuichi Kiyonari (JP/BSB SBK/54.10), 63. Marc Neumann (DE/IDM STK/53.71), 64. Guy Martin (GB/BMW RRC/53.33), 65. Sebastián Porto (AR/MT1GP STK GP/51.56), 66. Barry Burrell (GB/EWC STK/51.00), 66. Gary Mason (GB/EWC STK/51.00), 68. Stephen Mercer (GB/EWC STK/48.00), 69. Wolfgang Gammer (AT/AARR SBK/43.64), 70. Laurent Aymonin (FR/FR EU/39.38), 71. Luca Oppedisano (IT/CIV/38.40), 72. Daisaku Sakai (JP/MFJ/38.00), 73. Camille Hedelin (FR/EWC SBK/33.00), 74. Martin Jessopp (GB/BSB SBK/32.76), 75. Marcel Irnie (CA/AMA STK/31.42), 76. Johannes Hoffmann (DE/IDM STK/30.86), 77. Federico D’Annunzio (IT/STK1000/28.00), 78. Jeremy Cook (US/AMA STK/27.33), 79. Stefan Cappella (GB/EWC STK/24.00), 79. Shinya Takeishi (JP/MFJ/24.00), 81. Emilien Jaillet (FR/FSBK STK/22.15), 82. Mike Wohner (AT/AARR SBK/18.91), 83. Richard Balcar (CZ/AARR SBK/16.00), 83. Thomas Hainthaler (DE/IDM STK/16.00), 83. Mark Albrecht (DE/IDM STK/16.00), 83. Pawel Gorka (PL/AARR SBK/16.00), 83. Koji Teramoto (JP/MFJ/16.00), 88. Yuuta Kodama (JP/MFJ/14.00), 89. Luca Conforti (IT/CIV/12.80), 90. Johannes Kanzler (DE/IDM STK/11.43), 91. Sabine Holbrook (DE/AARR SBK/10.18), 92. Jean Foray (FR/FR EU/9.85), 93. Chris Schmid (DE/IDM STK/9.14), 94. Bartlomiej Lewandowski (PL/AARR SBK/8.73), 95. Mika Höglund (FI/CEV AM/8.00), 95. Eric Vionnet (CH/STK1000/8.00), 97. Stefan Dolipski (DE/AMA STK/6.00), 97. Fabio Marchionni (IT/STK1000/6.00), 99. Michael Truchot (FR/FR EU/3.69), 100. Maria Costello (GB/BMW RRC/3.56), 101. Noriyuki Tsujimoto (JP/MFJ/2.00), 102. Tatsuya Noda (JP/EWC SBK/0.00), 102. Mohamad Syahnas Shahidan (MY/MSC SBK/0.00), 102. Sandra Stammova (SI/RSA SBK GP/0.00)

More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:

Malaysian MotoGP™ debrief with Masao Azuma

Bridgestone slick compounds: Front: Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft & Hard (Symmetric) & Medium (Asymmetric)

Bridgestone wet tyre compounds: Hard (Main) & Soft (Alternative)

Last Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 2015 MotoGP™ season and was won by Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa ahead of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi who finished in second and third place respectively.

All three days of the Malaysian Grand Prix were subjected to hot and dry weather, with track temperatures reaching a peak of 50°C during Sunday’s twenty-lap race. The improved performance of Bridgestone’s 2015 specification tyres enabled the riders to set a swathe of new records at the Sepang circuit. Pedrosa set a new Circuit Best Lap record of 1’59.053 in qualifying, Lorenzo set a new Circuit Record Lap of 2’00.606 during the race and the overall race time record was beaten by over seven seconds.

Q&A with Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

The Sepang Circuit features a variety of corner types and is always subjected to hot conditions. Which of these factors has the most influence on tyre development for this circuit?

“There are a number of factors which combine to make Sepang an especially challenging circuit for tyre development. The high temperatures and layout of the circuit with its hard braking zones and fast sections are two of the obvious ones, but potentially even more of a challenge in recent years has been the gradual degradation of the track surface. Not only has the grip level of the asphalt diminished significantly year-on-year, but the undulations in the braking zone have also increased in severity. This means that we’ve had to develop tyres that can provide good durability and resistance to overheating for this circuit, with the added element of ensuring the riders have enough grip to make up for the poor track surface, while ensuring the bumps in the corners can be managed effectively. Looking at how our tyres performed last weekend, I feel we were able to deliver good tyre options for the riders, but there is no doubt that the Sepang Circuit would benefit greatly from being resurfaced in the near future.”

The combination of the medium compound front and rear slicks was used by the vast majority of riders for the Malaysian Grand Prix. What benefits did this tyre combination offer to riders that made it so popular?

“The medium compound front and rear slicks proved to be so popular as they were best suited to deal with two of the main issues with the Sepang circuit; a low grip surface and severe bumps in the braking zones. On such a hard-braking circuit with high track temperatures such as Sepang, you’d expect that our hard compound front slick would be the preferred option. However, the severe bumps in many corners meant that the riders felt that the medium compound front slick provided better bump absorption, which gave them better bike control in these tricky sections. For the rear tyre, the reason why the majority of riders preferred the medium compound option was that it offered a really good balance of outright grip and consistency and with two long straights ensuring you have good drive out of corners is important. We saw on Sunday that some riders, like Stefan Bradl for example, also could achieve good results using the soft compound rear slick and this is because the excellent grip of this option helped to counteract the poor grip level of the Sepang asphalt.”

The pace at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year was record-breaking, but was still slightly slower than that achieved during pre-season testing at Sepang. Why is there such a discrepancy in lap times between testing in February and the race in October?

“Normally, the riders set their best lap time during the winter tests at Sepang between morning to noon on the final day of the test. At this time, the track temperature isn’t so high and the teams have had enough time to find a good bike setting. However, our data indicates that there the grip level of the circuit during pre-season testing in February is slightly different to that during the race in October and we take this into account when selecting our tyre allocation for the Malaysian Grand Prix. What is evident is that this year, the lap-time deficit between testing and the race was less than in previous years. For example, Dani’s qualifying time was only around forty-thousandths of a second off his best time in the first Sepang test and I think the improved performance our tyre allocation at this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix was a factor in this result.”

More, from a press release issued by Team China:

Su Ends Year With SAATC Trial In Sepang

Chinese teenager Hunter Su completed an encouraging first year of European competition with a try-out for the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup (SAATC), held last week at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Although not selected for the series for 2016, Su reflects fondly on the experience which will no doubt help him greatly next season.

Su made it to the penultimate session despite a small crash early on, now fully aware of the step forwarded he needs to make to be considered for future selection.

Hunter Su – Team China: “Being accepted to try out for the Asia Talent Cup has been one of the biggest motivations for me. When I saw this championship in 2013, I told myself, this is where I need to be! I applied first in 2014 but unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to go the selection. I wasn’t surprised as I only had a year of riding experience. However, after a year riding in the Honda Copa Championship in Spain I was selected to go this year. I was really nervous before I got on the bike, I found my body started shaking, this has never happened to me before, not even for races. In the first session I got used to the bike and gradually picked up my pace. I made a mistake by turning the small wheeled scooter too fast in the chicane and tucked the front making a small high-side. In the second session I was just concentrating on being smooth and nothing else. After the second session, they started to cut off riders in the groups. Surprisingly I was one of the ones that was asked to stay for the third round. I pushed all out, but I was not able to stay with the fast riders. I know that I’m not ready for this huge competition YET. Everyone was super-fast, especially the Malaysians. In the end, like I expected because of my pace I got cut off before the last session but nevertheless I have learned so much and am truly grateful for this amazing opportunity! I will now return to Spain where I will start to prepare for next year.”

Hunter will announce his 2016 plans shortly. In the meantime stay up to date with him via his new and interactive website: www.hunter-su.com