Qualifying
Josh Brookes: 4th
Peter Hickman: 15th
Race 1 – 20 laps
Jsoh Brookes: 11th
Peter Hickman 15th
Race 2 – 5 laps
Josh Brookes: 8th
Peter Hickman: 12th
Race 3 – 16 laps
Josh Brookes: 11th
Peter Hickman: 13th
As the sun sets at Brands Hatch the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team is leaving the sixth round with mixed emotions, after a weekend of both improvements and frustrations for Josh Brookes and Peter Hickman.
The weekend saw warm conditions at the Kent circuit with high temperatures and sunshine across the three-day event, and Friday’s combined practice times saw both Josh and Hicky through into Saturday’s Q2 session aboard the BMW M 1000 RR.
Josh enjoyed a strong qualifying session where he secured a second row start for the first race of the weekend having claimed the fourth fastest time, while teammate Peter struggled with grip and lined up 15th. A frustrating first 20-lap race saw Josh cross the line just outside of the top ten in 11th having drifted back down the pack, with Peter coming home 15th.
Today’s conditions at the 2.43-mile circuit were slightly cooler and following a red flag on the sixth lap, the 12-lap Sprint Race was restarted and became a five-lap dash, which saw Josh finish eighth, with Peter just missing out on the top ten in 12th.
The final race of the day saw Faye Ho’s riders’ side by side 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.
In the ABK 0% Beer BMW Motorrad UK F 900 R Cup Jamie Hanks-Elliott continued to impress. In the Heat 2 race Jamie finished eighth and went on to finish 13th in the Main Event, while also being presented with the ABK 0% Beer BMW Motorrad UK F 900 R Cup Rider of the Day Award.
The FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team now has a few weeks before the next Bennetts British Superbike Championship round, which takes place at Thruxton (9-11 August). However, the team will be in action at Silverstone for MotoGP on 2-4 August as a wildcard entry in the Pirelli National Superstock Championship.
“It’s been an up and down weekend here at Brands Hatch, I’m tired of making excuses so the best thing I can say is that I don’t really know what’s going wrong. We were good in qualifying finishing fourth, we had built an expectation on the basis that we would have a good race and in the first race it just didn’t come together and I slowly drifted back through the pack, which was really disappointing for myself and the whole FHO Racing team.
The next two races we tried to understand how we could be strong in qualifying but not be able to turn that into a race result. We tried some different things with the BMW, and it didn’t prove any better. We then went back to the settings we had in qualifying for the final race, which was still the best version of the settings we have but, for race distance it’s not good enough. So, we’re leaving Brands frustrated with another weekend lower than what we believe we’re capable of.”
Josh Brookes #25
“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 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!”
Peter Hickman #60
“It’s been another weekend of ups and downs for the team here at Brands Hatch; we seem to have some glimmers of hope and then it’s dashed during the races. We started off well in qualifying with Josh fourth, but sadly we couldn’t capitalise on that position for the first race or really improve on that place across the weekend. Pete has show progress and signs of improvement, he’s looking comfortable and more himself on the bike and it’s great to see him looking more himself again. I’m so proud of Jamie and what she is achieving in the F 900 R Cup, she’s had some fantastic results this weekend and to be awarded the Rider of the Day, is just brilliant. We’re now looking forward to our wildcard entry at the British MotoGP in a few weeks’ time, where the boys will be out on their Superstock machines.”
Faye Ho
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