The Brands Hatch GP circuit has hosted at least one round of the BSB Championship every year since 1996 with the exception of 1996 and 2000 when both rounds took place on the shorter, Indy circuit.
Leon Haslam’s first ever BSB victory came on the Brands Hatch GP circuit in 2004 when riding for Renegade Ducati.
In 2012, Shane Byrne won all five races held on the GP circuit. Josh Brookes came close to repeating this in 2015 when he won four out of five races.
Byrne took the double victory in July this year with Dan Linfoot and James Ellison taking a second each, and Haslam and Christian Iddon a third apiece.
Byrne has the record number of wins on the GP circuit with 17 followed by Brookes (8), John Reynolds (5) and Steve Hislop, Haslam, Gregorio Lavilla and Leon Camier (all 3).
Byrne also has the most number of podiums (28) followed by Brookes (15), Ellison (12), Reynolds and Michael Rutter (both 9), Haslam (8) and Ryuichi Kiyonari, Tommy Hill and John Hopkins (all 7).
Hopkins had his best results of the 2016 season on the Brands Hatch GP circuit taking two second place finishes at the final round in October.
Haslam has scored the most points so far in the Showdown this year with 86 followed by Brookes (58), Byrne (47), Jake Dixon and Peter Hickman (both 42) and Jason O’Halloran (23).
Of the Showdown contenders, Brookes and Dixon had the worst meeting at Brands in July scoring only 11 points each. Byrne scored 50 with Haslam taking 27, Hickman 26 and O’Halloran 18.
The current lap record was set in July this year by Brookes, the Australian breaking his own six-year old record with a time of 1’24.873s, 103.21mph.
Brookes also set pole position in July, his time in the wet session some ten seconds outside his lap record, 1’35.198s.
The fastest lap ever recorded around the Brands Hatch GP circuit is in the hands of Byrne who recorded a time of 1’24.614s during FP3 at July’s meeting.
2016 saw JG Speedfit Kawasaki win all three races at the final round, one for Hickman and two for Ellison.
With 75 points available, the final round of 2016 saw Ellison claim the most (50) followed by Hopkins (49), Hickman (45), Linfoot and Byrne (36 each), Iddon (31) and Tommy Bridewell (27). Haslam only scored 24 points with O’Halloran claiming just 12.
Ducati and Kawasaki both won races in 2016 but Suzuki last took victory on the Brands GP circuit in 2014 with Josh Waters riding the Tyco-backed machine.
Yamaha’s last win came in 2015 (with Brookes) as did BMW’s (with Michael Laverty) but Honda’s last victory was back in 2011 with Byrne.
