2020 Bennetts BSB is go! O’Halloran heads the field by 0.019s at Donington Park
The Bennetts British Superbike Championship got back on track today (Friday) at Donington Park, where McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran topped practice times by 0.019s from Héctor Barberá, as the 2020 season finally got underway.
An incredibly close start to this year’s first official event weekend saw the top 16 riders covered by just 0.772s, ahead of tomorrow’s opening race of the season.
Former MotoGP rider Barberá snuck in the second fastest time, just behind O’Halloran, in the final moments of a frenetic session in which Andrew Irwin was also in the mix on the new Honda Racing Fireblade. He had been setting the pace earlier in today’s single session, but he ended third fastest and just 0.195s adrift of the leading Yamaha rider.
Josh Brookes was also shuffling inside the top five during the session and he led the VisionTrack Ducati charge in fourth place, with teammate Christian Iddon in eleventh.
Danny Buchan was fifth fastest for the Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki team after enjoying a spell at the top of the times earlier in the session. He held off Glenn Irwin on the second of the charging Honda Racing Fireblades and Peter Hickman on the Global Robots BMW, making it six manufacturers in the top seven placings.
Luke Mossey ensured both of the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMWs lapped competitively, ahead of rival BMW contender Alex Olsen, whilst Kyle Ryde completed the top ten for Buildbase Suzuki.
Tomorrow’s opening race of 2020 is preceded by a second free practice session, Datatag Qualifying and fans can watch all of the action live on Eurosport 2 and listen to BSB Radio powered by Kawasaki K-Options, which will feature all the live timing and commentary from the track.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Free Practice 1:
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:06.535s
- Héctor Barberá (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.019s
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.195s
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.354s
- Danny Buchan (Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki) +0.419s
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.512s
- Peter Hickman (Global Robots BMW) +0.544s
- Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.583s
- Alex Olsen (Global Robots BMW) +0.614s
- Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.616s
For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha)
Fastest in free practice
“It is really nice to be back after such a long wait. We had a really good test last week and to start the first day of the first race weekend of 2020 feels great.
“We had a good plan and worked through it and everything seemed to go pretty well. Track temperature was quite high today; we’ve got a few things to work on tomorrow as I am confident we can improve for race one tomorrow afternoon.
“I felt comfortable, the last sort of two or three days riding I’ve been feeling really, really good on the bike. I’m so glad it’s finally race day tomorrow, I can’t wait!”
