Markus Reiterberger (Onexox BMW TKKR Racing) finished in the top six in both races at the season-opening event of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) 2023 in Buriram. Starting from second on the grid, Reiti fought for places on the podium on Saturday and Sunday. He finished race one in fourth place and in race two he finished sixth.
The extreme heat created difficult conditions for the rider and the team, causing some unusual problems. Reiti had to avoid riding in the slipstream in order to supply the engine with enough fresh air. The extreme asphalt temperatures of almost 70°C also made it difficult to work with the tyres. Reiti is fifth in the overall standings after the first of six events.
Markus Reiterberger:
"Qualifying went pretty well with P2 on the grid. I was leading after the first stint with race tyres, but unfortunately I couldn't improve that much with the qualifier. I was pretty disappointed with the first race. Fourth place was not what I had imagined. I’m here to win. The bike was not as strong in race trim as we had hoped. In the warm-up on Sunday morning, the soft tyre worked very well. We were able to set the fastest time. But I knew it would be difficult to improve the bike for the race. The whole weekend we were struggling. With a lot of effort I was in front on one lap, but in the races it was more difficult. My start in the second race was okay. I was able to fight with the other guys. But on the straights I had no chance at all. I could not overtake. Nevertheless, I fought for the podium for a long time in race two. In the final part of the race, the tyre degraded completely. I couldn't hold my line, I had no grip and the bike didn't turn well. That was frustrating. The bottom line is that we couldn't solve our problems. Sixth place was not our goal. We know what we need to work on to get back to our strength we had in the 2020 ARRC season opener in Sepang."
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