The season opener of the 2024 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in Buriram, Thailand, proved difficult for Markus Reiterberger (Onexox BMW TKKR Racing). Due to the spontaneous decision to start the title defence, the team had to improvise.
As there was not enough time to build a new motorbike, last year's bike was reactivated. During the test at the Chang International Circuit, Reiti struggled with the technology and was unable to complete many laps.
The team had to switch to a stock engine for the race weekend. Starting from sixth on the grid, Reiti finished the first race in sixth position. In the second race, the 30-year-old German from Obing was among the leading group at the start, but then dropped back due to a brake disc issue and finished seventh.
Reiti will have to sit out the next race of the Asia Road Racing Championship, as the EWC will finally get underway for the 2024 season on the weekend of 19 to 21 April and Markus will then be in France for the 24-hour race at Le Mans. He will return to Asia for the third ARRC event at the MotoGP circuit in Motegi (Japan).
Markus Reiterberger:
"The start to Sunday was promising because the warm-up went well. We tried a new set-up and I was able to do a lot of really fast laps. After that, I was very confident that I could fight for the podium or even victory in the second race. Unfortunately, the poor starting position was no help. I felt vibrations on the front wheel as early as the warm-up lap, but I did’t pay too much attention to it. The first laps were okay. I was riding in the leading group and felt comfortable. But the vibrations got worse from lap to lap. I realised that they were coming from the brakes. It got to the point where the brake lever moved. Sometimes I could pull the lever as far as my fingers, then the lever was far away again. On the straights, I had to pump twice because the damaged brake disc pushed the pads back. I moved the brake lever very far back so that I at least had some brake pressure. I was able to catch up with the riders in front of me again and passed my team-mate, who pushed me off the line during his counter-attack. That wasn't a normal manoeuvre between team-mates. Later, another rider rode into my bike. The second race was a complete disaster. I'm annoyed because the podium would have been possible with the bike. But the week had already got off to a very difficult start. We came here very spontaneously. I realised that it would be difficult with the available material. I rode last year's bike. Due to the spontaneous participation, the new bike was not ready in time. I had to contest the races with a stock engine due to technical issues. The conditions were anything but great, but I at least wanted to give it a go. We gave it our all. I want to thank my team, especially Fabio and Dirk, my two helpers from Alpha Racing."
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