# BMW S 1000 RR Brings Victory for 2012 Season



## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

The 2012 racing season is now drawing to a close and once again this year BMW customer teams celebrated a large number of successes in national and international championships with the BMW S 1000 RR. A great deal of credit for the victories and titles has to go to BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport, a specialist department that offers clients support directly at the racetrack with engineering services and performance parts. BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport can therefore look back on a positive track record for the last season.

The teams and riders supported in the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) were especially successful, with the RR riders dominating the field in the hotly contested IDM Superbike category. BMW came out on top both in the riders' and in the manufacturers' rankings. Erwan Nigon (FRA) of Team Van Zon - alpha Technik clinched the 2012 championship title, followed in the riders' standings by Michael Ranseder (AUT/Technogym Racing Austria - Fritze Tuning) in second place, Jörg Teuchert (GER) of Team Wilbers - BMW Racing in third, and Teuchert's teammate Gareth Jones (AUS) in fourth, all on an RR. In the manufacturers' standings, BMW had already succeeded in defending its championship title on the sixth weekend of racing. In total, BMW scored 644 points this year - 403 more than the manufacturer in second place, Yamaha (241 points). Over the eight weekends of racing, the BMW riders and teams achieved ten outright wins, 14 second places and 13 third places.

In the FIM Endurance World Championship, BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent battled it out for the title right up to the last race. The BMW S 1000 RR with the start number 99 was ridden by the IDM champion Nigon and his colleagues Sébastien Gimbert (FRA), Damian Cudlin (AUS) and Hugo Marchand (FRA). The team scored a convincing victory in the "8 Hours of Doha" in Qatar and made history in the famous "24 Hours of Le Mans" in France by being the first European manufacturer to make it onto the podium, finishing in third place. Ultimately, the team came second in the world championship overall rankings. BMW Motorrad France also had a successful season with RR rider Gimbert in the French Superbike Championship, clinching six victories, making it onto the podium 14 times, and finishing the season in second place overall.

The FIM World Endurance Superstock Cup, which is hosted as part of the Endurance World Championship, was won by the Penz13.com Kraftwerk Herpigny Racing Team. This win represented the first World Cup title for the RR. In the FIM Sidecar World Championship, the BMW duo Jörg Steinhausen (GER) and Gregory Cluze (FRA) finished the season in second place overall.

There were further championship wins in national series with the assistance of BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport. In the Belgian Superbike Championship, RR rider Grégory Fastré (BEL) of Team Herpigny Motors - BMW Motorrad scored his third consecutive championship victory. The team also secured an early championship win in the Belgian Endurance Championship with Fastré and his colleagues Stéphane Mertens and Vic de Cooremeter (both of BEL).

And then there was a title hat-trick in the South African Superbike Championship: Greg Gildenhuys (RSA) of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team was crowned the champion for the third year in a row. The RR also dominated the Canadian Superbike Championship, with the top three overall rankings being secured by BMW riders. This year's champion was Jordan Szoke of Canada. In the Scandinavian Superbike Championship, the Finnish RR racer Eeki Kuparinen clinched his first championship title.

Team Supersonic BMW made its debut in the renowned British Superbike Championship BSB, with the rider Tommy Bridewell (GBR). Bridewell regularly finished in the top five in the hotly contested races, thereby securing a coveted qualification for the championship showdown. In the BSB, the top six riders in the overall classification are determined after nine racing weekends. These six riders then qualify as "title fighters" for the decisive showdown stage over the last three weekends of racing, during which they battle it out for the title on the basis of a separate points system. In 2012, BMW rider Tommy Bridewell was one of the title fighters, having left some of the hot favorites for dust as he endeavored to secure a place in the showdown. Bridewell ultimately finished in sixth place overall.

"Congratulations to our BMW teams and riders, who once again scored a great many victories all over the world this season," says Berthold Hauser, Head of BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport. "We at HP RaceSupport are proud to have played a part in this success with our support. These successes prove that we have the right overall package, in other words the combination of the strong BMW S 1000 RR, the skills of the RR riders, the hard work put in by the teams and the close cooperation with our specialists. All the cogwheels work together perfectly and the result is race wins and championship titles. But we don't have much time to rest at the end of the season, as preparations for the 2013 season are already under way. And we're looking forward to the coming year!"


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