Honda Racing rounds out positive Donington Park Test
Honda Racing completes a positive, albeit weather-influenced and tough, two-day test at Donington Park for the second of three Bennetts British Superbike Tests, marking the first UK on-track action in 2025 for the Louth-based team.
With three sessions scheduled daily across two days for both the Superbike and Supersport classes, Honda Racing targeted further evaluation of new parts and settings first tested in Navarra just a few weeks ago. Returning to a circuit (in an identical configuration) previously raced in 2024 enabled the team to benchmark a testing programme against data gathered during last season. However, changeable conditions on day one made navigating the damp patches challenging, and a damp start to day two further reduced productive track running. Nonetheless, making the most of the dry sessions available, this test marked another positive step for the team as all four riders identified improvements on their respective machines.
In the Superbike class, Andrew Irwin rounded out the two-day test eighth on combined times but felt confident that there was another step to be made should he have put together all of his best sectors. Stablemate Tommy Bridewell, however, struggled to find the same level of comfort from his Fireblade that he achieved in pre-season testing not long ago but remains confident that come race day at Oulton Park, he will be right at the sharp end. He ended the test in twelfth, two-tenths back from his teammate.
Meanwhile, in the smaller capacity series, Jack Kennedy continued his strong run of pre-season form, despite two uncharacteristic crashes, to position third on combined times and less than a tenth back from the quickest time. Dean Harrison was hot on the heels of his Supersport stablemate in P7, having found some positive steps with the 2025 specification engine.
The Honda Racing team now returns to its base in Louth to prepare for the final pre-season test, scheduled for 23-24th April at Oulton Park.
#18 Andrew Irwin
I think that if you had asked me last night, I would have said that the test has been very positive but today has been a little bit disrupted by losing a session to the rain and I feel like we didn’t make the progress that we needed too, I was a little too aggressive in one of the sessions and we didn't quite put a whole lap together. I think it’s important to remember though that we have another two days of testing before we go racing, because at this stage we are not quite ready to go racing. That said, I am satisfied with where we are and the way we are working. At Oulton Park, we need to find some consistency and a little bit more speed to close the gap. I am riding in a really good way, we just need to put everything together.
#1 Tommy Bridewell
Donington Test has been a bit tough for sure. It’s a bit challenging to analyse because, in all honesty, I feel a little bit lost with the setup because we are running a very different bike here in 2025. In the Monteblanco pre-season test, we were feeling really positive and I was super comfortable with the bike, but then at Navarra things didn't quite click. Then again here in Donington, I’ve lost a little bit of my feeling. I need to have a look at things and work out where we are not quite getting it right, the crash yesterday didn’t help and hurting my hand didn't help. The great thing with Honda though is they have everything in-house and they can analyse everything that we need to understand what the bike wants and what the bike needs from me to maximise the potential. I have absolute confidence that we will be there or thereabouts come Oulton Park race.
#4 Jack Kennedy
Although this test has felt a little frustrating with the reduced track time, the weather and a couple of uncharacteristic crashes, I have to say that the test has been positive. The pace is there, the lap time is there, and we have gained some key information from this test which has cemented our strategy for when we come to race here later in the year. As far as a test goes for me, the weather and the crashes make it hard to say it is positive but it certainly was. We leave here with a really good direction of where we need to go, but we also need to go away and analyse why we crashed today.
#3 Dean Harrison
As a whole, all of the testing has been really good to be honest, I am feeling good and the bike is working well for sure, and we are right in the ball park in P7. Having a test with sessions is really good because you can do your session and then take the time to work things out and come up with a plan of what to change or what to focus on for the next session. Here at Donington we’ve had quite a lot of new things to test, which with the weather disruptions has been a bit tricky, but all in all the new parts are working great, the new engine spec is definitely a step in the right direction. Some other bits are a little more inconclusive, so we will focus on those areas for the Oulton Park test next week.
