Defending Bennetts British Superbike champions Paul Bird Motorsport concluded their COVID-19 delayed pre-season testing schedule at Donington Park today prior to the condensed season getting underway next weekend.
After testing in Spain back in February, former champion Josh Brookes and new team mate Christian Iddon followed up exclusive tests at Croft and Knockhill over the past month for the Penrith-based squad who won their seventh title with Scott Redding last year.
Today’s official test was the final opportunity to dial in the factory-supported 1000cc VisionTrack Ducati Panigale V4Rs for both Australian Brookes, who finished a close runner up after winning ten races last season and new recruit Iddon, who currently makes his home on Tyneside, prior to the six-round season starting on 8/9 August.
2015 BSB champion Brookes worked through a number of settings throughout the day and set his fastest lap of 1:06.719 in the fourth and final session to end up just over a tenth of a second behind the fastest rider. Iddon meanwhile, a double BSB Rider’s Cup champion, made further progress with the bike and team and set his best time in session three of 1:07.370. Brookes finished seventh overall with Iddon in 18th.
Josh Brookes: “The bike was good at the end of last year and I was very pleased with pre-season testing in Spain and the changes to the bike all felt good. The Croft and Knockhill tests proved to be very beneficial also. We started putting things together at Donington Park today, but we got on the wrong path and the bike wasn’t suited to the track and we ended up with something like what he had in Spain. But we plugged away and it was a positive finish at the end. The benefit of test days is you get to test stuff and we did get through a few settings. It’s all positive and we were only a tenth of a second in it on the timesheets in the end. It’s looking good for the race and the bike I finished the day on was great.”
Christian Iddon: “That’s pre-season done about four months late. Today was the first time we rode the bike in anger on home soil and it went really well. I wasn’t super-fast all day which was a bit frustrating, but I felt good on the bike. I just wanted to improve a few things to get a better lap time and in the last session I struggled a bit in a few areas which hindered me. But I’m pleased with my consistency and we have a way to work forward to the race in a week’s time. That’s everything done for now, so we now need to concentrate on round one which I’m looking forward to.”
The revised calendar for the Bennetts British Superbike Championship will be over six rounds, all featuring three races making 18 rounds in total.
Aug 7/9 Rounds 1/2/3 Donington Park (National Circuit)
Aug 21/23 Rounds 4/5/6 Snetterton
Sept 4/6 Rounds 7/8/9 Silverstone (National Circuit) – Behind Closed Doors
Sept 18/20 Rounds 10/11/12 Oulton Park
Oct 2/4 Rounds 13/14/15 Donington Park (GP Circuit)
Oct 16/18 Rounds 16/17/18 Brands Hatch (GP Circuit)
Pictures attached (courtesy of Double Red Photographic): Josh Brookes (25) and Christian Iddon (21) in action at Donington Park today.
ENDS
