Althea BMW boss Genesio Bevilacqua believes the base S1000RR product that Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger raced in this year’s World Superbike series good but the whole package needs some improvement.

The team ended 2016 easy victors over Milwaukee BMW - who have switched to Aprilia for next season - but didn’t stand on the podium all year. It’s a marked difference to the team’s Raffaele De Rosa who won the FIM Superstock Cup.

“I think that the base product we have is really good. Of course when you switch to Superbikes we have some tools that are not so good at the moment. We are trying to develop electronic parts; the engine is quite good but the chassis we still need to improve a little bit. The difference between the stock product and the Superbike is the added volume, sometimes it doesn’t show so clear but all the package is not working in harmony at the moment and this is something we’re trying to improve,” he said.

“The season was quite good, I consider the performance of our riders quite good this year,” said Bevilacqua. “Unfortunately we suffered some physical problems, for example with Reiterberger in Misano. He had a big crash and it slowed the development of the bike a little bit. But until now I consider it a good season especially in Superstock. We got a good result where we were able to win the Championship, so it means the base of our bike is very good.

“We have to improve a little bit on the electronics, which at the moment is a little off and with the engine brake. We will work together to help give our riders more confidence that they need to do a good job for next year.”