In April, the Kiefer Racing Team unveiled the BMW S 1000 RR superbikes in their race livery at the Hockenheimring. All work on the motorcycles has now been completed, and Luca Grünwald and Björn Stuppi have logged plenty of test miles. Stuppi has christened his BMW “Vicky” and, like his teammate, can hardly wait to finally let it loose in the IDM premier class.
Kiefer Racing has just returned from a three-day test at Misano. Team boss Jochen Kiefer is satisfied. He says: “With every kilometer on the racetracks, we were able to gather important data to prepare the bikes optimally.” In Kiefer’s view, Luca Grünwald in particular has made tremendous progress. The two have worked together before, back in 2014. Kiefer now says of the 26-year-old: “He can comment very precisely on how the motorcycle behaves on the track. That makes it much easier for us to fine-tune the settings on the race bike. He certainly owes this knowledge to his years of experience as a test rider.”
Kiefer clearly sees how Björn Stuppi’s experience with the BMW S1000RR comes through. “His seasoned riding style and clear feedback are a huge help to us in setting up his Vicky. I definitely see the potential in him to improve his results this year.”
What the team—and especially the riders—appreciate is having Michael Lofy on board. “Our riders benefit greatly from his years of experience as a medical athletic coach working with elite athletes,” says Kiefer. The season opener, now scheduled for May 21–23 in Oschersleben, can and will hopefully go ahead as planned.