SECOND ROW START FOR DAN LINFOOT AT THRUXTON

Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot will start tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike Championship race at Thruxton from the second row of the grid after a highly charged and competitive qualifying session this afternoon; team-mate Jason O’Halloran will start from the third row of the grid.

With the sun shining over the 2.35-mile Hampshire circuit, the three-stage qualifying got underway and with fast lap times already recorded during free practice sessions, qualifying was looking set to not disappoint. Honda’s duo Linfoot and O’Halloran breezed through the initial stage aboard the all-new Fireblade finishing fourth and sixth.

With all-eyes on the second-stage ahead of the one-lap Superpole, blistering lap times were seen with the top-nine all under the Thruxton lap record (1’14.884). Linfoot lead the second stage and claimed the fastest time (1’14.408) aboard his CBR, while The O’Show finished eighth (1’14.803).

The final one-lap Superpole saw O’Halloran finish seventh with a third row start for tomorrow’s first 20-lap BSB race, while team-mate Linfoot bagged himself a second row start after scoring the sixth fastest lap.

The schedule for the seventh round MCE British Superbike Championship at Thruxton tomorrow sees race one due to take place at 1330 and race two at 1630.

I was happy to get into Superpole, but I did feel my time in Q2 was a little unrealistic as I had a lap behind another rider, which changed my feeling with the CBR, and it did help me do what I wanted to do with the bike. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous going into Superpole and that I wouldn’t be able to replicate the time, which unfortunately was the case. But starting from the second row tomorrow isn’t a bad start, it is going to be a long race with tyre wear, so we need to make the right steps between now and the race so we go in with the right set-up.
Dan Linfoot / #4

Well we have finished today seventh, which gives us a third-row start tomorrow, it’s not the best but it’s alright! We made a good step with the lap times from practice and with the changes to the Fireblade I felt really comfortable heading into this afternoon. We knew from the start of Q3 we were on the back-foot a little with the tyre rule for qualifying so finishing seventh isn’t so bad. I am a little disappointed that with the rules we couldn’t have a new tyre for Superpole, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I feel confident with our race pace for tomorrow and I am looking forward to racing here again, it’s a great circuit and always brings exciting racing.
Jason O’Halloran / #22

Overall I am pleased for Dan and Jason, it’s not easy here and second and third row on the grid isn’t a bad starting point and I know they can both come through the pack from there. I’m confident that we will have good race pace tomorrow, tyre wear will be difficult as it’s not easy here and I do think Jason will have a better tyre life, but I think both Dan and Jason can be strong in both races. We have some things to work on tonight ready for warm-up tomorrow but overall I’m pleased with the pace and times so far here at Thruxton.
Havier Beltran – Honda Racing team manager

Qualifying