Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes is the only rider in the World Superbike field to have raced at the Laustizring on a WSBK-sped bike before when he took part in a wet and dry weekend in 2006 when he was with the ill-fated Bertocchi Kawasaki team.
Whether this will give the popular Australian any kind of help of advantage over the weekend is difficult to judge as most of the other teams have tested while he and team-mate Karel Abraham were left to their own devices in the summer break while the team got on with changing manufacturers.
“The last time I was there, I remember it was a difficult weekend. In the practice sessions, it was always raining but for the race it was dry. It is difficult to know the perfect setup because there are sections which are straight braking, stopping the bike then turning, so it is important to have a powerful bike for acceleration on to the straights, and be really brave on the brakes and brake late,” said Brookes.
“There isn’t so many corners that flow from one to the next, so those are some of the focus areas. I can’t say that knowing the track will be any advantage because it has been so many years. I think my position is to improve the bike or even if it doesn’t improve, just make it feel better for me. That should allow me to ride better.”
Althea BMW's Markus Reiterberger has plenty of recent experience at the track as it is part of the German IDM Superbike series.