For MGM Yamaha newcomer Marc Moser , his first outing on the YZF-R1-M was well worth it. The Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo near Valencia proved to be his home turf. During the roll-out, he clocked a time of 1:35.4 minutes. For reference: The track record stands at 1:31.171 min and was set by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in MotoGP! The second-fastest rider on the track was Moser’s IDM rival Alessandro Polita on a Honda.
Moser took to his new motorcycle for the IDM Superbike 1000 right away. “Maybe it was because I learned professional racing on an R6. Yamaha is Yamaha,” says the 25-year-old. On the first of three test days, Moser completed 115 laps at the Spanish racetrack. “On the third day, we didn’t head out until the second session because it was so cold beforehand and the tires suffered a lot as a result.”
Moser is completely satisfied with how things have gone so far: “We’ve done some initial data comparisons and adjusted the suspension to be a bit softer for me. Most importantly, we’ve never taken a step backward—it’s always been a step forward.” But it was also extremely important for the Frankfurt native to make a good impression on his new crew and, above all, on team boss Michael Galinski . “The guys didn’t know what to expect with my signing, especially since I’ve had a year off from racing and things weren’t looking so great before that either. But now everything went better than we expected,” he says with relief.
Before the IDM season kicks off in May at the Lausitzring, the MGM Racing Performance team will also be testing at Misano.