Brookes fifth at Oulton BSB test, new SCX tyre ‘information was invaluable’

BSB champion Josh Brookes finished the third British Superbike test of 2021 fifth fastest at Oulton Park after missing the Snetterton event. 

The Australian chose to sit out the Norfolk based test in order to let his finger injury suffered at Silverstone fully recover, but with only two sessions run over the course of three days due to poor weather, Brookes was fortunate enough not to miss significant track action. 

The two-time series champion was immediately on the pace at Oulton Park as he finished the first of three sessions quickest for PBM Visiontrack Ducati. 

On Brookes' side of the garage the test was used for working through different components available to them, which included the new SCX tyre that provided plenty of information, but not the increased pace Brookes was looking for.

Speaking after the one-day outing, Brookes added: "The day was positive in as much as the finger injury didn’t really affect me, but regarding the actual test, I felt the track was a little slower than last year as it hadn’t been used very much. 

"We put last year’s settings into the bike and straight away I was fastest but then we tried a few different things, including the new SCX tyre, and the changes didn’t really help us go faster. 

"I learned a lot about the new tyre which was one of the main objects today so that information was invaluable."

Brookes took victory at race three of the 2020 event and has a good record at the Oulton Park circuit. And even though Brookes was not fastest overall, the 38 year-old is ‘happy’ with where he’s at including the ‘base setting’ of the bike.

"We know we have a good base setting on the bike and these tests are to experiment a little but the whole idea is to evaluate our package," added Brookes. 

"Even though I wasn’t fastest overall, I’m happy with where we are at and we got plenty of dry laps in."