BMW's Troy Corser reckons he just needs to get mnore track time on the new S1000RR Superbike to get on the pace week in, week out and was surprised with his brace of top-ten finishes at Qatar.
The veteran Aussie, who has been very vocal in his objction to the new Superpole system, said he didn't think he could get the bike inside the top ten this early in the season and better qualifying performances would make it easier.
"It was great to be in fourth place in race two and although I knew I’d get passed, it was fun while it lasted. I made a really good start, saw a gap and just went for it. I was fifth at the end of lap one and then passed Byrne and got into fourth by the end of lap two. I managed to hold it until lap four, but I must have surprised a few people by just getting into the top four in the first place," said Corser.
"Starting any race from the fourth row of the grid is never easy, but it’s a long, fast drag down to turn one here and then a series of corners where it’s very difficult to overtake, so it’s easy to lose time.
"Before the season began, I would never have thought we’d get into the top ten so soon, especially when you consider how many good riders and very experienced teams there are out there. Today we beat people with faster bikes and more experience than we have and that just shows how strong our team is.
"We lack experience with this bike for sure, but we can only get that by track time and that is our disadvantage at the moment. I feel we are about half a second down on set-up and chassis and although that’s not a lot, it is something we need to cut in order to be more competitive. We’ve been away from our workshops for over three weeks now, so it’ll be good for us to get back, go through all the data and carry on the hard work.
"But, as I have said before, the S1000RR has a good base and is already showing its potential. I think it won’t be long before we will be challenging on a regular basis, though it would help us all if we could at least start the races a bit further up the grid."
