A solid start for Honda Racing at Donington Park

Tommy Bridewell

“The gap between the qualifying times is so tiny, particularly between the second row to the fourth row, that it’s a frustration in itself. It’s annoying to be that close and yet then get stuck behind people at the start of the race. I’m still struggling to get the bike where I feel I need it to be as a rider, and that’s obviously what you can see at the moment with me starting on the fourth row. I got a good start but I think that I maybe tried to take a bit too much too fast and so then I had to sit back and take a more calculated approach and just work my way through. It’s frustrating that we could have been on the podium, I think we had the pace, but I just had to take the passing opportunities when they came and not force it. On the plus side, my lap times weren’t bad and I’ll be starting further forward tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find a bit more in the bike, and maybe having three races can help us.”

Andrew Irwin

“It’s been a good start to the weekend. In Practice and Qualifying, I think we were able to work things through pretty methodically. It’s a solid start but I think we can continue to take steps forward in the three races on Sunday. We were in the fight for the podium early on today, and I think we can be there throughout the race tomorrow. We’ll be working on one or two things between now and the next race and will hope to build from where we are now.”

Jack Kennedy

“We got a good start from the second row, probably the best start we’ve had all year, and so I managed to make up a couple of places by Turn 1. We had a good fight, it was good to be fighting for the podium places and I actually felt pretty comfortable in the lead there as well. Unfortunately, we got passed a couple of times in the last two laps but we managed to finish on the podium, and I feel like we rode the wheels off the bike. I gave it absolutely everything. Overall, I’m happy with the result and my performance. We just need to start beating our championship rivals more often if we want to give ourselves a chance of the title.”

Dean Harrison

“We’ve gone stronger and stronger through the weekend, I think. I feel like I’m in the front group now in terms of my pace and in terms of wheel-to-wheel racing of the sort of intensity that you see in Supersport. My outright speed isn’t in question, I’m happy with my pace, but we’ve really focused on racecraft over the last couple of rounds and I do feel much stronger. So for tomorrow we’re starting in a good position again after another good lap time in the race, so we’ll go again and see where we end up.”

Team Principal Neil Fletcher

“Across both the Supersport and Superbike garages, the team has spent two days working hard on the package that our riders have, and already they are seeing a return. I think that both Superbike riders had podium pace today and have put themselves in a great position to deliver on that in Sunday’s races. In Supersport, Jack rode a great race and it was really encouraging to see him out in front for so much of it, while Dean’s impressive run of form continues.”