Honda Racing looking to extend championship leads at Silverstone
This weekend (4/5/6 September) the Honda Racing team will be back in action for the third instalment of the 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone’s National Circuit.
With three BSB races across the weekend, Glenn Irwin will be looking to extend his championship lead at the 1.6-mile circuit. With a strong start to the 2020 season, Glenn has so far enjoyed four second place finishes and a race win aboard the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP and will be looking for further success this weekend.
Andrew Irwin will also be looking to add to his points tally having already claimed two wins this season. Last time out was a difficult round for Andrew, but throughout he further demonstrated the power and potential of the new Fireblade, claiming vital points in the final race to stay in the championship top six, just seven points shy of fifth place.
Tom Neave arrives at Silverstone leading the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship after claiming a sensational win at Snetterton coming through from seventh place. Five points ahead of his championship rival, Tom will be looking for solid results over the two races to move further ahead in the standings.
Over the weekend Davey Todd will be looking to build on his good form and continue making progress with the new Fireblade. Currently sitting tenth in the standings with 22 points, just one-point separates Davey from ninth place, however positions six to nine all-share 23 points, so a good points haul will prove vital this weekend in the standings.
Practice begins on Friday 4 September with qualifying and Round 7 on Saturday, ahead of Rounds 8 and 9 on Sunday.
Live timing will be available here: https://www.britishsuperbike.com/live-timing
---
Weekend Schedule – Rounds 7/8/9
Silverstone National:
Friday 4 September:
1225 - SSTK: FP1
1530 - BSB: FP1
1700 - SSTK: FP2
Saturday 5 September:
0920 - BSB: FP2
1050 - SSTK: Qualifying
1215 - BSB: DATATAG Qualifying
1505 – SSTK: Race 1 (24 laps)
1630 - BSB: Race 1 (25 laps)
Sunday 6 September:
1215 - BSB: Race 2 (30 laps)
1355 - SSTK: Race 2 (24 laps)
1630 - BSB: Race 3 (30 laps)
Keep up to date with all team news across the season by following Honda Racing UK on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The 2020 Honda Racing team merchandise is now available to purchase online, click here to check out the range.
Andrew Irwin
I think we're going to go well at the weekend, last year we were quite competitive and that was with the past Fireblade at the first round, and we progressed from there throughout the year. Now I think everyone knows that the new bike is a step forward so we should be able to do a decent job over the weekend. The plan is to move forward and get three decent finishes and try to rebuild the season from Silverstone pretty much, and try and get back up to where we should be. I'm 60 points from Glenn in the standings, so to win the championship this year is probably impossible, but now for me it's about making the best of the job and try to keep building and set ourselves up for a good end of season finish.
Glenn Irwin
I had a plan with myself this year to do a good job, and my job and the teams’ job is to get the most from the new Fireblade every week, and I think that’s something we have done quite well at the first two events. It’s not come easy and it’s taken a lot of hard work from the top of the team down to myself, but the aim pretty much remains the same and also not to get too complacent, continue working the way we are as a team and I’m positive if we carry on in this way, then the results will continue. Leading the championship feels good, I’m relaxed and it’s a position I would rather be in, and I guess everyone else would like to be there too! So I’ll enjoy it and work hard to ensure we can stay there for as long as possible. I don’t feel anymore pressure as such, I’m aware of the points gap but I’m not looking over my shoulder thinking when will that gap depreciate, I’m enjoying it and the confidence I can take from it, but it doesn’t change the way I am working with the team.
Tom Neave
Now that we’re leading the championship I don’t want to do anything daft fighting for a position where I put myself at any risk, sometimes it’s worth settling for a position and taking the points to preserve where we are in the standings, and the last thing I want to do its chuck it up the road! I think leading the championship has brought a slightly different perspective to the weekend, but ultimately we’re still going to go as fast as we can. It’s still early days, we’re only at Round 3 and I know it’s a short season, but I still think there’s a lot that can happen and we still have six or seven races left so it is early days. I’m confident that we should all be on a similar level as no one has really tested at Silverstone this year. I think the new Fireblade will suit the track, for me the bike works really well on the side of the tyre on the fast flowing tracks like Donington, so I think Silverstone should be a good round for us.
Davey Todd
I absolutely can’t wait to get going this weekend at Silverstone, it’s really exciting to be going back there to be honest. I did my first ever BSB there at the start of 2016, on a 600 on the full circuit and there’s only one other time I’ve rode there, which was at the BSB test at the start of last year on the Padgetts CBR600RR, in the Supersport class and I got on really well all day and ended the day second I think. I surprisingly really enjoyed the shorter track and I think it will make for some good racing. We’ve made some improvements, and I’ve made some improvements so we’ll be going into Silverstone Round 3 stronger than Round 2, again we’re making steps forward and I think we will have a strong weekend there.
Team Manager Havier Beltran
It’s exciting coming into Rounds 7/8/9 leading the British Superbike Championship, as well as the Superstock Championship, it just shows all the hard work that has gone in behind the scenes developing the new Fireblade. We never thought we’d be in this position so early on, so credit to the riders and team for all their hard work so far. However, we know there’s still a long road to go and we cannot, and will not get complacent with the results. It’s going to be a busy weekend with five races for us across BSB and Superstock, so it’ll be head down, focus and I look forward to seeing where we are at the end of the weekend.