Josh Brookes on Sepang WorldSBK
Josh Brookes – Qualified 14th – Race 1 finished 11th – Race 2 finished 12th
“The race was pretty much what I expected. We tried some different settings with the throttle this weekend which didn’t work as well for me, and it’s an area we need to look at.
“I think I have could have raced up front, especially as it was wet like Assen, and it would have been great to mix it up with the leaders again. Unfortunately the bike set-up just didn’t work for me today, but it was good to get some more points.
“I’m hoping we can get some better results at Donington, and I’m looking forward to racing there again. I will give 100% effort, but we have to make sure that the bike is working correctly too so that I feel confident to push it.”
- Josh Brookes – Image by GeeBee
Josh Brookes’ teammate Karel Abraham had qualified 16th and took four points from race one but retired from the second race with technical problems.
Karel Abraham
“I was a bit anxious before the start of the race when it started to rain, because we didn’t do any wet laps during the weekend. I had problems with the launch control and wheelie control on the formation lap and I knew that something was wrong with the bike. I didn’t want to risk damaging the bike or hurting myself, so unfortunately I had to make the decision to retire. It was a shame because until then the weekend had been pretty good and we made progress with the bike. Ahead of the next race at Donington I hope that we can avoid similar issues and make everything work. I know that the guys will work their hardest to get everything ready, and I will make sure to give my best and get good results.”
Mick Shanley – Milwaukee BMW Team Coordinator
“It was a disappointing race for both riders. Josh hasn’t ridden at Malaysia before and has been a little bit behind all weekend, and having it rain today made it more difficult for him. We’ve made some set up changes that are generally positive, but it took some time for him to adapt to them. We made good progress with Karel in the morning warm up and we were looking forward to a strong race. We knew the rain might pose a challenge, but unfortunately he experienced some electrical problems on the formation lap that forced him to retire. Now we have to analyse the data we’ve gathered this weekend, and we got some more experience with the BMW in the wet. We now have to regroup and get ready for our home round at Donington where we’ll aim to put on a good show.”
