Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne was the fastest rider in both MCE British Superbike free practice sessions at Brands Hatch and now the reigning champion is aiming to win all the races during the triple-header event at his local circuit.
The Panigale racer is aiming for a record breaking sixth BSB title but main rival, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam has a 33 point advantage in the standings. Byrne out-paced the ZX-10RR in FP1 and FP2 and is feeling ‘chilled and relaxed’ ahead of race one tomorrow.
Byrne started the opening free practice session on the 2017 spec Ducati, as that was the bike that he won on during the last time his team were at the GP track in July. But throughout the season his crew have switched between the 2016 and 2017 spec setup as he has had success with both this year.
It has been a good day. Basically throughout the last few rounds we have switched between our 2016 and 2017 spec bike because there are strong aspects to both and the bike we won on here in July was the 2017 one, so it made sense to start with that here,” said Byrne.
“We have had two sessions today and in both we have been fastest but unfortunately there are no points for free practice so we aren’t any closer to achieving our goal, which is to try and win three races and then hopefully another title but it is a good start anyway.
“I feel quite relaxed. It is difficult; Leon is leading with a 33 point advantage and trying to overhaul that in three races is going to be really difficult, but I have come here chilled out and ready to race and I am here to enjoy it.
“I would love to win all three races; Brands Hatch is my home track and in fact if I win all three this weekend that would make it 20 victories on the Grand Prix circuit, which would be cool and if that is enough for the championship then that would obviously be fantastic.”
