Althea Racing pull covers off BMW S1000RR

Althea Racing riders Marcus Reiterberger, the 2015 German Superbike champion, and Jordi Torres, the only non-British rider to win a World Superbike race last season, have pulled the covers off the BMW S1000RR they will ride in this year’s series.

The duo, joined by European Superstock 1000 rider Raffaele De Rosa, showed off the new machine at the Moto dei Miti Museum located next door to the team’s workshops in Civita Castellana, Italy.

The switch sees the team move from a highly successful partnership with Ducati that saw them take the title with Carlos Checa, joining reigning BSB champions Milwaukee BMW as one of the Bavarian firm’s two supported teams.

But wile team principal Genesio Bevilacqua is aware that a lot of work lies ahead of the team, he nonetheless says he’s remaining confident about their chances for the upcoming season.

“I’m so pleased to be able to pair the Althea brand with that of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, as together they form a new reference for BMW for the coming seasons. We know that the task ahead is a significant one and are aware that the competition we will be facing on track will be stiff and well prepared.

“The precious support of BMW combined with our experience, which has seen us frontrunners in recent seasons of the factory-derived championship, will surely allow us to be competitive right from the first race.

“We of course expect to need a little time in which to get the measure of the situation and collate the necessary references, but the riders, technicians and engineers that our team brings to the track are capable of being major players and crave the successes that team Althea has enjoyed during its long and glorious history.”