Milwaukee BMW arrived in WorldSBK as defending British national Champions, moving up onto the world stage, and the step has given the squad some challenges along the way – some expected, some more difficult than imagined. As the summer break approached, WorldSBK.com caught up with Team Principal Shaun Muir to talk about their first taste of World Superbike, their expectations vs reality, and how the future looks for the Guisborough based squad.

“It’s been a struggle if we’re honest,” says Muir. “I think we expected to be further up but it’s testament to the depth and quality of the Championship now. When there’s 0.7 covering the top ten, to get into Superpole 2 you’ve got a lot of work to do, and I think that’s kind of measured our season. We’ve always been just outside that top ten although we’ve broken through a couple of times when we’ve been fast enough on Friday to get straight through. So it’s been quite difficult, but we’re gaining a lot of experience and it’s a three year project so there’s nothing been wasted - hopefully we can get a bit more momentum and start squeezing into that top ten by the end of the year.”

The top ten is something the SMR squad have threatened, and riders Karel Abraham and Josh Brookes have finished three races within it so far in 2016. Brookes also shone in the difficult conditions in Assen in Race 2, as the Dutch Sunday skies provided a damp track and the Australian took advantage to lead before later crashing out in a Race characterized by a high rate of attrition.

“We had a bit of a difficult start since we didn’t really make the decision to move to BMW until November last year, giving us a very short time to get testing before we flew to Australia,” explains Muir. “So it’s been a challenge, but one common part has been that we’ve stayed with Josh but he’s had a lot of changes as well, obviously moving from a Yamaha to BMW. I think we’ve probably under-delivered this year and I think most of us accept that, and having the three year plan means you may be allowed to find your feet in year 1.”

The team have a 3-year timetable planned out for their initial foray in WorldSBK, and are now looking forward to finish 2016 as well as possible. But there is an eye firmly set in the direction of the future already.

“By years 2 and 3, we’ve got to be in the position where we’re consistently in the top 8,” asserts the Brit of the coming seasons. “And being in the top 8, there’s going to be times when you’re challenging for the podium. The Kawasaki and Ducati guys are leading the way at the front and we need to break that down and get on their shirt tails. But this first year has been a lot of learning for us, and we’ll expect to capitalize on that for our second year and hopefully move it forward. and at least be in a position where we can attract the top riders and they can take it to the front.”

So, that said…what are Muir’s final first impressions of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship?

“The depth of the field has surprised me a bit – I thought we would have been in the top 10 from Day 1, from pre-season we kind of had our eyes opened,” admits the Team Principal. “We got to Australia and we were in the top ten there, and I thought ‘ok that’s a good start, let’s consolidate from that’ but we’ve had a battle every weekend. But we’re really impressed with the grid – there’s a lot of great riders even from 1 and 2 right down to P14 and P15 scrapping for points…and we want to be amongst them next year.”

First come the final four Rounds of the 2016 season, with bikes back on track at Lausitzring in September as the Championship returns to Europe for the Pirelli German Round.