Preview: Round 3 – Donington Park

Preview: Round 3 - Donington Park

This weekend (17-19 May), the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team heads to Donington Park for the third round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, where Josh Brookes and Peter Hickman will be hoping to turn their fortunes onboard the BMW M 1000 RR.

After a challenging start to the 2024 season for Faye Ho’s squad, Josh Brookes will be looking to kickstart his championship challenge at the fast and flowing 2.49-mile circuit. Turning a corner last time out at Oulton Park, Josh will be hoping to find good form and fight for the positions he knows he’s capable of and move back towards the sharp end.

Meanwhile, teammate ‘Hicky’ arrives at the Leicestershire track after a successful North West 200 campaign with his own PHR Performance team. Back to short circuit racing, Peter will be looking for a solid weekend before turning his attention to the TT Races.

Round 3 gets underway on Friday 17 May with the first free practice at 12.30. Saturday (18 May) will see Qualifying, Superpole and Race 1, while the Sprint Race and Race 3 will take place on Sunday (19 May).

"We’re heading back to Donington Park this weekend, which is a circuit we tested at before the season started, but since that test we have gone a different way with the set-up of the BMW. We weren’t happy with the result of what we tried at the test, so during the opening round and at Oulton Park, we altered the general position of the bike and some of the settings that correlate with that change, which we will take to Donington this weekend. It’s key now that we find progress, as we cannot continue with the same settings we have had in the past, which have not produced the results we were looking for, so we need to find new direction and try to unlock some performance. I feel like we did find some improvements at Oulton Park and we will have to continue on this path this weekend and see if it shows promise.”

Josh Brookes

#25

"Donington Park has always, in the past, been a good circuit for me. The last round at Oulton didn’t go to plan at all; I was fast, the speed was there and the opportunity was there to have some good results, but for one reason or another it didn’t happen and with racing, sometimes that’s just how it goes, as frustrating as it may be. I’m heading into this weekend off the back of a good North West 200 with wins and podiums, so that was a good week and I’m fired up for Donington Park. I think the BMW should work well with what we’ve changed and learnt so far this season, it’s in a good place we just need to pull it all together now. This weekend it’s head down, work hard and get three clean races and build ready for the TT."

Peter Hickman

#60

Weekend Schedule

Friday 17 May

Free Practice 1
12.30 – 13.10

Free Practice 2

15.35 – 16.15

Saturday 18 May

Free Practice 3
13.15 – 13.25

Qualifying

13.35 – 13.50

Superpole

14.00

Race 1 (20 laps)

16.15

Sunday 19 May

Warm Up
09.30 – 09.40

Pit Walk

11.40 – 12.20

Race 2 (18 laps)
12.50

Race 3 (20 laps)
16.15

Circuit Stats

LENGTH: 2.49 miles / 4.02km

LEFT HAND CORNERS: 5

RIGHT HAND CORNERS: 7

CORNERS: 12

POLE POSITION: Left

LAP RECORD: Leon Haslam – 1:27.593 (2023)