BMW reveals new WorldSBK aero update at Balaton Park

A new fairing has appeared on the BMW M1000 RR at the Hungarian WorldSBK, although it’s only being used by one of the two riders.

The fairing is not an update to the big front wing on the M1000 RR, rather the change is further towards the back.

There, BMW has added two strakes, almost similar in appearance to what is seen on Aprilia’s MotoGP ground effect fairing, for example. The strakes begin at the top of the bottom part of the fairing and run down and back towards the rear part of the bellypan.

It’s an update that seems to be focused on managing the air around the rear tyre, possibly to improve cooling or to clean up the flow around the wheel to improve efficiency.

ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team principal Shaun Muir was asked about the new update by the WorldSBK world feed broadcast during FP2, but he was reluctant to give many details.

“We’ve got very few changes to the bike from Portimao and from Assen,” said Muir.

The update has only appeared on Miguel Oliveira’s bike on Friday at Balaton Park, Danilo Petrucci running the standard fairing without the strakes.

Oliveira was the faster of the two BMW riders in FP2 on Friday, finishing ninth-fastest but over 0.8 seconds behind Ducati’s Iker Lecuona at the top of the times. Petrucci crashed at turn three in FP2 and finished the session 15th on the time sheets.

Petrucci was taken to the medical centre after his crash and diagnosed with a left wrist contusion. He will be reviewed before FP3 to judge whether he can ride on Saturday or not.

Both BMW riders arrived at Balaton Park with optimism after they enjoyed positive experiences of the Hungarian circuit when it debuted in World Superbike and MotoGP last year. Additionally, both were encouraged by the results the M1000 RR achieved at Balaton last year when Toprak Razgatlioglu won all three races.