Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport continued its preparation for the 2012 World Superbike season with two days of testing at Valencia in Spain last week.

The winter test ban in the FIM Superbike World Championship expired on 15 January. Factory riders, Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam completed a total of 950 kilometres of testing on the 2012 race version of the S 1000 RR.

During this test, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport focused on verifying the latest developments it has made in recent weeks. The bikes were equipped with the latest version of the engine which proved to work perfectly.

The team also worked with updated software for the BMW electronics and was able to further improve the electronic strategies. In addition, the team tried new parts on several areas of the bike.

Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport has drawn a positive conclusion from this test. The bike was working as expected in all areas. This allows the team to now focus on fine tuning the chassis and the electronics.

Despite the cool track temperatures, the team was able to collect important information in order to prepare for the next tests.

“It was good to be back on the bike after the winter,” Melandri said. “The testing of the updated electronics was very encouraging. We checked if everything is working well before we go to Australia, and the result was good.

“Of course we still need to improve in some areas. In entering corners, I still need some more confidence on the bike in order so I am to push properly, but we are all working very hard and I am sure that we will find a solution at the next test in Australia.

“Phillip Island is not an easy track, so it is important to be confident with the bike to be able to go into the corners very fast. In the next two weeks I will keep in contact with the team and we will analyse the data from the test to prepare for Australia. In addition, I will do a lot of training.”

Haslam was also positive following the team’s first test of the pre-season.

“It was a long winter back home and I am definitely happy to be back on the bike,” Haslam said. “We were lucky with the conditions. It was a bit cold in the morning, but we were able to get most out of the two days. We got through everything that we needed to go through, so I am very positive.

“These two days were important. We have a lot of new things for this year and it was good to test before we go to Phillip Island. In addition, it was good to get a few laps under our belts and get up to speed again. We definitely made big steps and are much further ahead compared to last year.

“It really is a stronger package and we still have five more days to test in Australia to dial it all in. Next week I will go to Germany to meet the team there. Then I will fly back home, do some PR events and continue my training programme, and then we will be already heading to Australia.”

In around two weeks’ time, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport will travel to Phillip Island, where the FIM Superbike Word Championship’s 2012 season will officially start on 26 February.