The opening test of the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship proved to be a frustrating one for the McAMS Yamaha team with poor weather conditions limiting track time at Donington Park.

The 2021 champions only ventured out for one of the first five sessions with heavy rainfall on Saturday and a wet start combined with Baltic conditions meaning the track took an age to dry on Sunday. With track temperatures getting colder, the team made the decision to call it a day before the final Sunday session.

Both Jason O’Halloran and rookie team-mate Tim Neave were able to spin some laps on Sunday afternoon, despite conditions being far from optimal with low track temperatures and some damp patches still out on track.

Keen to spin laps in his first proper test, Tim Neave headed out for some installation laps so the technical team could carry out some fuelling tasks, remaining on his wet tyres for all of his five laps.

With two bikes to test, Jason O’Halloran spent more time on circuit – checking everything was ok on both machines. With his 2022 bike all good, O’Halloran completed a further few runs on the 2023-spec engine so electronics engineer Tim Seed could refine the fuelling ahead of the next test at Silverstone. The Australian completed 14 laps in total.

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
“We just went out and circulated for a bit to make sure everything was alright as it was my first time on the superbike since October and the bikes have been built brand new so it’s good to get the all-ok so we know should the weather allow we can roll out at Silverstone with no issues. It’s been frustrating as we’ve waited this long to get out on the bike, but you can’t do anything about the weather and it’s nothing new. Fortunately, we know the bike very well so while it would have been nice to properly test the new engine spec, it felt good to be back on the R1.”

Tim Neave
McAMS Yamaha
“I’m gutted we didn’t really get to ride at this test, but I’ve waited this long I can wait a few days longer! I did five laps, which is better than none, but it was all on wet tyres and they were just installation laps so the boys could check everything on the bike ahead of Silverstone. It’s just risk versus reward at this stage and the risk is bigger than the reward so I’ll remind myself that! Hopefully we can get out at Silverstone.”

Steve Rodgers
Team Principal
“It’s been a frustrating couple of days with not being able to get much track time with the weather, but we’ve learned the hard way with riders getting hurt in sketchy testing conditions and missing the first race! It’s disappointing for the fans who come to watch, but with conditions as they have been, wet and very cold, the risks far outweigh the reward on offer at this point of the year. We’ll try again at Silverstone.”