Xaus seeks further upswing in fortunes

With his team-mate Troy Corser all set to test his machine and double check if he is fit enough to race at Silverstone in a Mugello practice session, Ruben Xaus is ready to go again after a positive upturn in his fortunes at the previous round in Brno.

Ruben may have fallen in race two in the Czech Republic, but only in his eagerness to chase down his first podium for BMW in WSBK racing. He was fifth in race one at Brno, a marked improvement on some early season difficulties.

Ruben is 13th in the championship, but his immediate focus is once more on getting back to the kind of form we have see from the talented Spanish rider in many previous World Superbike seasons. Armed with the BMW S1000RR, all things now appear possible for Ruben, even at a Silverstone he will hardly recognize.

He stated, "Brno was a very positive weekend for me. Although I unfortunately crashed in the second race, the team can be proud of our performance. We showed that we're competitive and that we can keep pace with the top guys in every session. I hope that we can keep our form going at Silverstone."

He continued, "I have good memories of the track, as I've finished on the podium there on several occasions in the past. I've only seen the new layout on TV, but it looks interesting. There are some stop-and-go corners and it seems like quite a physically demanding track. Some areas of the new section appear to be quite bumpy; we'll take this into account in our set-up work and make the necessary adjustments to the bike."