Jordi Torres and the Althea BMW Racing Team were able to gain much needed data on their S 1000 RR machine with two days of testing completed in both wet and dry conditions.  Taking to the Circuito de Jerez on Monday and Tuesday, Torres tested the new Fortis swingarm on his BMW, which he argued is neither better or worse than the swingarm he used throughout the season.

“It's good to always try different parts because riders can find different information and I can understand different information on my bike,” explained Torres.  “At the moment I don’t know which is more perfect but we know how we need to improve and maybe we need more time with the Fortis swingarm, but at the moment both are giving great performance.

“The advantage with the Fortis for now benefits the mechanics more. It’s faster to change the wing or the rear shock, it’s more easier for them to work with. But in the end, I need the best performing swingarm, not the one that offers the fastest changes.”

Day one in southern Spain saw the KRT team and others sit out due to such wet conditions, however, Torres found the challenging weather to be beneficial for the BMW S 1000 RR. On Tuesday, while the morning was damp, the rest of the day remained dry, offering the Spaniard the best of both extremes to test in, to make the most valuable adjustments.

“This morning (Tuesday) we tried to do the most laps because after all, we need more information in races when it starts to rain because we don’t have too much performance in the wet,” continued Torres. “We needed to collect more information and try different solutions in the rain to find more stability in the rear and more information. After the two days in Jerez, we have more information and we know better how the BMW reacts in conditions and this is most important. On the final day, the track became dry and we had a lot of problems with electronics so we couldn’t do a fastest lap. But for me, the most important are these laps we did in the wet to reach this information.”

Althea BW Racing Team have finished testing for 2016 and will return to the track in January as they begin final preparations, before the new season.