The only way is UP!
It has been a frustrating few rounds for Hickman in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, but heading into Brands Hatch, he was feeling much more himself.
The weekend saw warm conditions at the Kent circuit with high temperatures and sunshine across the three-day event. Friday’s combined practice times saw Hicky through into Saturday’s Q2 session aboard the BMW M 1000 RR, only 0.5 off pole. A positive start!
With the track temperature climbing and a change in set up of the bike, Hicky struggled with grip in qualifying and ended up with a lot of work to do later that day starting in P15. It was a frustrating first 20-lap race for him and the team as the track conditions changed a lot with very low grip, Hicky crossed the line P15.
Sunday’s conditions were slightly cooler providing more grip and following a red flag on the sixth lap, the 12-lap Sprint Race was restarted and became a five-lap dash, with Peter having ran inside the top 10 eventually finishing 12th.
In the final race of the day, Hickman lined up alongside teammate Brookes on the grid and for most of the race the pair stayed together on track across the 20 laps. Trading places at times and enjoying some good track battles the final result saw Josh 11th and Peter 13th.
Peter Hickman
FHO Racing BMW
“It’s been a much more positive weekend right from the start; first practice we were pretty good and for the second practice we were even better. To be at least in a bit more of a fight with everyone is more like it, unfortunately, we didn’t really make the best of qualifying and the first race didn’t go to plan at all; we really struggled with no grip which hampered us in the race, meaning I was quite far back on the grid for today’s first race.
The team did a great job overnight with some changes and I think the track conditions got better, I was feeling a lot more like myself and was in a bit of a fight, inside the top ten at some point in both races, and I’m quite content for now with the progress! I’m happy to be back in the mix and feel I can ride the BMW properly again and I’m feeling good!”
Next Up – British MotoGP Superstock (Wildcard)