Team Althea wins the Stock1000 title in Jerez with Raffaele De Rosa

Gaerne Spanish Round. A sixth place in the race at Jerez de la Frontera was enough for Raffaele De Rosa to give the Althea BMW Racing team the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, in the last round of the season: it is the first title ever for the rider, and the second Stock title for the team, after the one won in 2011.

A decidedly opposite weekend, however, for Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger who struggled in both Race 1 and the second heat, not getting higher than eighth and fourteenth place respectively.

In Superstock 1000 the decisive episode was the breakdown of the Panigale of Tati Mercado, De Rosa's only rival for the title, which occurred during the reconnaissance lap, which prevented him from starting this decisive race.
With the Argentine driver out of the running, De Rosa only needed 8 points to clinch the title, so he managed the race without taking unnecessary risks until the checkered flag.

For the World Championship of production-based derivatives, however, Torres was the author of a subpar race, which he led alone once he had achieved eighth place, detached from both the riders preceding him and those following him, penalized by problems of grip.
Definitely a negative weekend for him who hoped to entertain the home crowd with good performances.
For Reiterberger too it was a very similar race to yesterday's: after fluctuating between tenth and eleventh position until halfway through the race, he lost ground until finishing fourteenth, due to the deterioration of the tyres, especially the rear one, which led him to make a few too many mistakes.
With only one round remaining, Jordi Torres is still seventh in the standings with 195 points, while Reiterberger is 16th with 81.
BMW remains fourth in the manufacturers' standings with 216 points, as does Althea Racing in the teams' standings (281 points).

“I dedicate this title to my entire family, who has always supported me in difficult times and to my entire team; They have been working with me for two years and I am truly grateful for all their help. Honestly, the race wasn't easy” – he declared Raffaele De Rosa – “I feel sorry for Tati; when I saw that she was out, it destabilized me a bit, it was unexpected and consequently I had to change my race strategy a bit. I definitely rode a little slower than usual because I was tense and obviously didn't want to make mistakes. I have been struggling for a few years and I am therefore very happy with the result that has arrived after all our work this year..."

“We changed the front tire to look for more grip in the final phase, but unfortunately in the end there was the same drop in performance over the entire course of the race” – he said Jordi Torres – “We still lapped with more consistent times than yesterday, which is good, but the result was similar in the end. Despite the final result, I can be happy with the fact that I gave everything from start to finish, I tried to be aggressive and I didn't make any mistakes. Tomorrow we will use the test day to look for solutions."

“Today's match wasn't positive for us. I had found a good feeling with the bike in the first laps, together with a rather fast pace, but after passing Giugliano the sensations changed and I had some difficulties with the front tyre, risking falling more than once" – he said Markus Reiterberger – “As a consequence I also made a mistake, wasting time. I'm obviously very disappointed to have finished fourteenth. The team worked very hard and I'm sorry that the results weren't the best. I hope we can find something positive during tomorrow's tests."