Round 2 of the 2025 British Superbike season occurred at the Donington Park GP circuit.

A good opening day’s practice would put both DAO Racing directly into Saturday afternoon’s pole position shoot-out.

Qualifying would see a crash halt Lee Jackson’s weekend aspirations, whilst Brookes placed himself ninth on the grid for the weekend’s opening race.

Race one saw the team pick up their first-ever podium in the BSB class, with Josh Brookes crossing the line in third. The race would see Brookes push his way through the order and was as high as fourth by lap fifteen. The Australian began to reduce his gap to the third and second-place riders in the closing laps. A move into third on the penultimate lap was enough to secure the first podium for Brookes and the DAO Racing team.

Lee Jackson recovered from a nasty accident in qualifying to finish in the points, crossing the line in fourteenth place.

Sunday morning’s sprint race saw Josh Brookes cross the line in sixth, with some really strong lap times towards the end. An injured Lee Jackson fought through the pain barrier to only just miss out on points in seventeenth.

The final and third race of the weekend saw Brookes round off a strong weekend with another top-six finish, ending the race in sixth. Jackson’s race would come to a premature end; the #14 was unable to finish due to his injury from the qualifying session.

Overall, it was a round of mixed fortunes for the DAO Racing team. Nonetheless, the proof is now that the team can mix it right at the front of the grid.

Josh Brookes, Superbike Rider:

‘We arrived with already some ideas from when we were last here at the test, we’ve already been racing at Oulton Park and coming back here now the temperatures are much warmer than when we were here for the test. We wasted no time going straight to a new setting on the bike and the bike felt good straight away and we were in the sharp end of the times immediately. I had high hopes for the positions we could achieve. But after qualifying I was down on my times at P9, so I had to reset my target a little bit, as I felt maybe we didn’t have the speed, but pleasantly surprised in the first race being able to put the bike on the podium, the longer race caught everyone out with their tyre consumption and we were able to capitalise. It helped with Glen and Kyle battling with each other, we were able to bridge the gap, Glen was definitely  struggling with his tyres, so I was able to pass him and get the third. Then today we had the sprint race, the times were incredibly fast with a new circuit lap record being set and I just wasn’t able to match that pace. We improve our laptimes, I was quite surprised I did a 27.4 in qualifying and I matched a 27.4 in the first race and I brought that down to aa 27.2 in the sprint race. So still moving forward. I was hoping to match the pace from race one in race three, but everybody sharpened up their act and improved their game and it felt like maybe I was sacrificing my time in the end due to my tyre wear. We did improve the lap time again, I went to a 27.1 so again another fastest lap time for me. Over the race distance I feel like we dropped a bit of performance, so at the end I was struggling just to not crash and bring it home. Still a strong weekend, after having a podium in the opening race you kind of then hope for more, but we are happy enough.’

Lee Jackson, Superbike Rider:

‘I came into the weekend with a lot of optimism and from Oulton I felt like we made a good step so I was really looking forward to this weekend. Friday FP1 went fairly well, we didn’t make any drastic changes, but everything seem to be clicking into place. FP2 went really well, I did my fastest ever lap around Donington, it was a great time and I felt we made really good progress on the new tyres. Coming into Saturday, I was really looking forward to Qualifying, we made a small change in FP3 which was for the better and that was really hyping me up for qualifying. Maybe this weekend just wasn’t meant to be. I had a massive crash in qualifying which flung me down the track and I bashed my hand up a bit. Out of the 3 races I did this weekend, I’ve scored one point which isn’t ideal and I’m just really gutted for the team. It has also been fantastic weekend for the team, with Josh getting DAO Racing’s first podium which is great. I know my potential is there to match what Josh can do and I know as a team we can  both be inside the top 5 and on the podium. So it’s a frustrating one for myself and my hand is pretty sore now, so it’s time to get fixed up and look forward to coming back out at Snetterton.’

Jonny Bagnall, Team Manager:

‘A weekend of ups and downs on separate sides of the garage. Both boys started off well continuing on from Oulton Park, both very similar times in each session, up until Q2 when Lee had an off at Coppice and sustained a hand injury, which set the president of the weekend for him, which then it was a case of managing that and trying to get him through as comfortable as possible and salvage what points we could. On the other side of the garage, qualified in P9 which was a strong start for the team. Josh rode from that to our first podium which is fantastic. Race 2 and 3, it was good to round it up with another top 6 finishes. The sprint race wasn’t going to be our strong point, so to still be there fighting for those positions was good. Race 3 the direction we went with the bike maybe wasn’t the right way to go, although he set his fastest time of the weekend and was only 0.2 off the lap record set by Leon Haslam in the last race. So plenty of positives to leave with, there is still plenty of areas we need to learn about on the bike and still some areas we need to improve. As a second race weekend, overall, if you had asked me at the start of the weekend, I think it’s finished off pretty well.’

Sommai Nantakoon, Team Owner:

“I was really shocked at Donington Park that we were on the podium that quickly for the DAO Racing team. I am so happy for Josh to do this for himself and the whole team and I need to thank them all for their hard work.

To be a team owner and have our first podium was a big moment for me, this is my passion and for many years I have followed BSB. Now to be in this position to make this dream come true is a very proud moment for myself and Clarissa. It is wonderful to be a part of this sport and you just have to dream and we believed in our team and riders and now we are looking forward to Snetterton.”