2024 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch (Showdown Finale) - Qualifying Results

Ryan Vickers returned to pole in a stop start session, with heavy crashes and weather changes all playing a part in the grid order for the BSB season finale at Brands Hatch.

The OMG Grilla rider dominated the last visit to Brands Hatch, taking pole and all three wins. Having spent Friday resolving a rear brake issue, Vickers was out on track making sure to circulate with his teammate, championship leader Kyle Ryde.

The final moments of the session saw the Yamaha duo at the line again, and despite all the delays and weather complications, the #77 saw his affinity for the track demonstrated in his lap time, securing a late pole with a 1m 25.324s run.

Lee Jackson had taken provisional pole on slicks after a brave couple of laps at the start of the session. Confidence up, the MasterMac Honda rider ventured onto a dry line and on the paint, leading to a huge highside at Stirlings, causing the first red flag. At that time the only other riders with laps registered were Glenn Irwin and Max Cook, with the rest having dipped back into the pits for a tyre change.

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The second red flag allowed enough time to fix the bike, seeing the #14 back on track for a final time attack in the six minutes remaining. Back in provisional pole with a minute left on the clock, Jackson only moved back one place, second and just 0.168s slower for Honda.

Josh Brookes was focused when the pitlane reopened, moving up from seventh to third on his final run on the FHO BMW Motorrad, his third consecutive front row start as the Australian continues his uptick in form while closing in on his 400th race start on Sunday.

Friday saw the top three of the championship hold the top three slots overnight after practice, with Glenn Irwin sitting at the top, ahead of Ryde and Tommy Bridewell.

After qualifying it was Ryde who was best placed on the grid, fourth in a close session, just 0.191s behind his OMG colleagues time.

Max Cook moved into fifth late on for Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki, the best placed rider for the manufacturer.

Q2 had a second red flag for Glenn Irwin, who seemed to have an engine blow, with oil hitting his tyre, causing a massive plume of smoke and a slip off at Surtees. Andrew Irwin was following on track and crashed behind, immediately running over to pull the Ducati from on top of his brother.

Tommy Bridewell was one of several riders to have not set a time at the time of the incident, returning to track for sixth with Honda UK.

Eleventh at the time of his fall, the #2 was not able to get back on track, instead heading to the medical centre. Irwin has been declared fit for race one, but will the last of the title challengers - 15th on the grid as his time slipped to last in the session.

Peter Hickman registered the seventh best time, for a strong all round performance from the FHO team, just ahead of Danny Kent, who was in provisional pole at the time of the second restart, slipping to eighth for McAMS Yamaha.

Leon Haslam was the best of the riders to move up from Q1, in ninth for his ROKiT Haslam Racing team, with Charlie Nesbitt completing the top ten after a spill near the end of Q2 on the second MasterMac bike.

Danny Buchan held on after a trip through the grass on his DAO Racing Kawasaki, but that hindered his progress after a more positive start, leaving him to line up in eleventh.

Andrew Irwin did return after some frantic work for the Honda mechanics, fifth at the red flag he qualified twelfth.

Official British Superbike Brands Hatch Records:

Lap record: Josh Brookes (Yamaha, 2017) 1m 24.873s

Brands Hatch in 2023:

Round 6
Qualifying: 
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Ryan Vickers
3: Josh Brookes

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Danny Kent
3: Christian Iddon

Race 2:
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Christian Iddon
3: Danny Kent

Race 3:
1: Tommy Bridewell
2: Glenn Irwin
3: Ryan Vickers

Round 10 (showdown):
Qualifying:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2:Leon Haslam
3: Charlie Nesbitt

Race 1 (sprint):
1: Kyle Ryde
2: Jason O’Halloran
3: Tommy Bridewell

Race 2: 
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Kyle Ryde

Race 3:
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Kyle Ryde

Main Season 2024:

Qualifying:
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Danny Kent
3: Glenn Irwin

Race 1:
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Andrew Irwin

Race 2 (Sprint):
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Tommy Bridewell
3: Kyle Ryde

Race 3:
1: Ryan Vickers
2: Christian Iddon
3: Kyle Ryde

Q1- Skinner, McConnell out after pit confidence

Storm Stacey saw his weekend get off to a positive start, topping FP1. By the end of FP2 the LKQ Euro Car Parts Kawasaki rider had dropped to 17th , so found himself heading into Q1.

A wet Q1 saw him shine, going through to Q2 with the top time, eventually qualifying 13th. The #79 was joined by James Westmoreland (14th) as the top Pathway bike for IWR Racing and Leon Haslam.

On Friday Rory Skinner was the rider 13th in FP2, just missing out on an automatic Q2 place, Leon Haslam was just short of the Scottish rider, 14th after day one.

While Haslam timed his final run to move on both Skinner and Billy McConnell were sat in the pits in the top three, only to be displaced by the final bikes on track to take the chequered flag as track conditions improved. Skinner starts 17th, with McConnell 18th. The rider who just missed out was Brayden Elliott, who pulled himself into the top three briefly on his way to fourth in the session for DAO Racing..

Connor Rossi Thomson (22nd) makes his first BSB appearance, in at NP Racing, which had Louis Valleley as their rider for much of the season, the National Superstock Rider was last in the session.

There was a more familiar name in the line up for the last round as Xavi Fores (21st) returned at Oxford Products Ducati, taking the seat of the injured Christian Iddon, who faces ‘pretty comprehensive foot reconstruction’ after his accident at Donington Park.

Also absent after Donington, there is no Jason O’Halloran at Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki, who has a shoulder injury. The Australian has been a mainstay in the BSB paddock since 2008 and is not replaced for the final round as he leaves the championship.

Jaimie van Sikkelerus made another comeback from injury after bowing out in practice at Donington Park, but lasted just two laps of FP1 before bowing out. The Rapid Honda team were also not represented as Franco Bourne remained out of action and was not replaced.