Corser makes history with BMW podium

Troy Corser’s secured BMW’s landmark first WSB podium after making radical changes to his BMW S1000RR between race one and race two at Monza.  

The Australian veteran engineered an impressive turnaround for race two after being out performed by his team-mate Ruben Xaus all weekend. Starting from 12th on the grid, Corser made one of his trademark fast starts and was in the fight all race long.

Speaking to MCN, he said: ““It was a different bike to race one – we made a lot of changes, not just one thing, but three or four things which completely changed the package. I could race the bike instead of fighting it.

“We had a lot of spin in the first race, but it was smoking the tyre, in race two I still had spin but this time it was pushing. All race the bike was working good and that meant I could race the track and fight with everybody else.”

The changes essentially altered the balance of the bike which in turn improved the performance of the BMW on the brakes, which is critical at a high speed track like Monza.

“In Assen we made some improvements but we were still struggling in parts of the track, but in Monza I wasn’t struggling anywhere. I didn’t have to fight the bike on the brakes, it was smooth and consistent especially after I got used to where I could brake as it must have been nearly 20 metres later at some points.”

Despite having two WSB crowns and 33 race wins during his illustrious racing career, the 38 year old father of two claimed that taking BMW’s first podium was one of his racing high points

“For me it’s one of my best rides, because I was in the race, I didn’t make any mistakes and in the last few laps I could push and I nearly caught Leon. He actually had water coming out of his bike from about half race distance. I actually thought it was raining and I used up all my tear offs.

“As we tipped into Lesmo One I could see the water getting on to his back wheel and then he had a massive moment. I dropped back because I thought he was going to crash or blow up, but then he settled down. I knew we were pulling away from the guys behind us and Max was gone.”

Now five rounds in to the championship, Corser believes that there is no reason why he can’t become a podium regular in the fiercely competitive class.

“I think we can carry on doing this. After Assen I could see that the bike had the potential if we got the set-up right. All weekend we’ve been working to improve the braking and by the second race we got it right.”

When BMW entered the WSB Championship they revealed a three year plan to learn in year one, secure podiums in year two and then fight for the championship in year three. Now five rounds in to their second year they are on target, now it remains to be seen if Corser will still be the man to fight for the title in 2011.

He said: “It sounds like a pretty good plan to me and I hope to be involved next year, but you’d better ask the boss!”.

 Team-mate Ruben Xaus also had his best weekend since joining the squad after taking an impressive sixth place finish in race one. The hard charging Spaniard was fired up for race two, but was caught up in the carnage at turn one when Toseland collided with Jonathan Rea on the approach to the chicane.