MCE Ducati’s Josh Brookes mirrored his difficult 2021 at Thruxton and continued to suffer as British Superbikes returned on Saturday.

Qualifying a disappointing 26th for the opening race, the double BSB Champion failed to find the much-needed grip to allow his Panigale V4R to progress further than 20th at the finish of the  afternoon’s eBay Sprint race.

“After the problems I had at Thruxton last year, it’s the round I’ve been looking forward to the least but after good progress shown at Donington, Knockhill and Brands, I was holding onto that hope and that trend continuing when we got underway,” Brookes admitted from the Hampshire track.

“It was clear straightaway though that the same problems existed, and it doesn’t matter what we try, I’m still suffering with a major lack of grip.

“No matter what we change, we don’t go forward, we just stay stagnant which is incredibly frustrating.

“You want to scream and throw things but that doesn’t change anything so it’s a question of staying composed and professional and just keep trying as hard as you can.”