Troy Corser's hopes of giving BMW a strong result on home soil in Germany were scuppered by an elbow injury that forced him to withdraw from the opening race.
The Australian endured differing fortunes at the Nurburgring after three crashes on the Saturday dropped him from a provisional second to 14th position on the grid.
He would fare little better come race day as he crashed in avoidance of the stricken Leon Haslam during the first start, Corser injuring his elbow in the process. Although he made it back for the restart, contact with Sylvain Guintol would put him to the back of the grid before Corser eventually retired when he lost feeling in his fingers.
“The crash in the first race was Haslam's fault because he high-sided right in front of me and I had nowhere to go. I suppose we were lucky that the race was red-flagged and those of us who had fallen got another chance.
“I had given my right elbow a pretty hard bang and it felt sore and uncomfortable when I changed into a different set of leathers for the restart. On the first lap, I got in the turn too hot because I couldn't feel how hard I was braking! I ran wide and unfortunately took Sylvain with me (sorry Sylvain!).
“We both went off the track and rejoined the race, but we were right at the back of the field. I carried on for a while, but didn't have much feeling in my fingers, which made it difficult to know how hard I was braking! After I missed a few braking points, I decided to pull out because I didn't want to crash and didn't want to hit anybody.”
Nonetheless, Corser made it out for the second race, though he would eventually fade back to 12th as his elbow continued to prove troublesome.
“I had some treatment and ice on my elbow, but only decided to take part in the second race five minutes before the start. The team stretched the suit a bit, so my right arm was more comfortable and everything was pretty much OK up to about half race distance.
“I had a good dice with my team mate Ruben for a while but then I began to feel more and more sore, so I rode steadily, tried to keep out of trouble and bring the bike home so that I could give as much info as possible to the team.
“It was a big shame about my elbow, because I really believed that I could've finished well in the top six in both races today despite my grid position. Certainly, I felt much better in race two than race one, but at this level you have to be 100 per cent all the time to compete with the top guys and today I just wasn't able to do that.
“I see no reason though, why I should not be fit enough for the next round in Imola in three weeks time and there I really want to be able to fight for a podium again.”
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