Glenn Irwin sets fastest ever British Superbike lap around Silverstone
Glenn Irwin finished the first of four British Superbike pre-season tests fastest as it was all change on day-two at Silverstone.
Day-one was dominated by McAMS Yamaha rider Jason O’Halloran who topped all four individual sessions, however, day-two saw three different manufacturers and consequently three different riders claim top spot.
Kyle Ryde continued his impressive form from the opening day for RICH Energy OMG Racing BMW, as he topped the first and fourth sessions, while Buildbase Suzuki’s Danny Kent was fastest at midday.
But it was Honda Racing UK rider Irwin who was fastest overall - setting a lap time of 53.139s - +0.093s under the previous lap record.
Irwin wasn’t the only rider to go underneath the circuit record though, as Tarran Mackenzie was second fastest for the McAMS team +0.061s back, in what was a mightily impressive start to 2021 for the factory Yamaha squad.
Not far behind Yamaha in terms of most impressive team was Buildbase Suzuki. Kent’s quickest time in the sixth session overall was good enough to keep him in third overall, while team-mate Gino Rea was sixth fastest.
Ryde finished the Silverstone test in fourth place ahead of O’Halloran. Seventh and eighth were new SYNETIQ BMW riders Danny Buchan and Andrew Irwin.
Rounding out the top ten was Christian Iddon for the Visiontrack Ducati team, while Ryan Vickers finished tenth for the second consecutive day aboard the Lee Hardy RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki bike. The top ten were split by less than half a second, +0.414s to be exact.
