DesmoSport Ducati Gears Up for Hidden Valley Raceway

DesmoSport Ducati has arrived in Darwin ahead of this weekend’s three races for round four of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) at Hidden Valley Raceway. Racing alongside Supercars, it's the first time Broc Pearson will get to race the circuit with the ASBK, after having completed his first laps of the circuit in a test just a few weeks ago.

Team co-owner, Ben Henry: "While it's a long way to get here, everyone really looks forward to Darwin. We earn a lot of new fans every year when we race alongside Supercars and track brings on some interesting challenges and great racing. I think you'll find almost every superbike front runner comes here with confidence, and we're no different, despite Broc having done only a handful of laps here in testing. We've had good results here with every rider from Troy, through to Mike, Oli and Bryan over the years and Broc did a great job learning the track, and I see no reason why we continue his progression this weekend."

Team co-owner, Troy Bayliss: "I've only just landed back in Australia after spending some time in Europe with Oli and Pirelli in WorldSBK so I'm looking forward to going racing with DesmoSport again this weekend. I love coming up to Darwin and Hidden Valley is great track. There's always some great racing with the track bringing in high speeds down the long front straight and some tight, technical corners up through the back, and I think it will suit the way Broc likes to ride the Panigale V4 R. It's going to be an interesting weekend that's for sure."

Broc Pearson: "I can't wait to go racing this weekend. We've got three races on a track that's new for me and I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I've got no doubt the pace will be fast, but I have some confidence from our test where I think we can have quite a strong weekend. Racing with Supercars brings in another element to the weekend and there's definitely some excitement in the air, even just walking around Darwin itself is pretty cool."

On-Track Schedule

Friday

Free Practice 1: 8:45am (30 min) 

Free Practice 2: 12:10pm (30 min) 

Free Practice 3: 3:25pm (30 min)

Saturday

Qualifying 1: 8:25pm (20 min) 

Qualifying 2: 8:50pm (15 min) 

Race 1: 12:40pm (16 laps)

Sunday

Warm Up: 9:00am (10 min) 

Race 1: 8:30am (16 laps) 

Race 2: 1:10pm (16 laps)

The Qualifying format will see all superbike riders set a time in Qualifying 1, with the top 12 riders transferring to Qualifying 2 to set the final grid positions.

Unlike Free Practice, the tyres used in these sessions are part of the teams overall Pirelli tyre allocation of nine for the weekends races and qualifying.

Watch all the race action LIVE:

Friday

Fox Sports + Kayo FP2 & FP3

Saturday

Fox Sports + Kayo Q1 & Q2

Channel 7 Race 1

Sunday

Fox Sports + Kayo Race 2 & Race 3

Channel 7 Race 3

Follow the on-track action across the weekend via LIVE Timing at www.Computime.com.au

Make sure you follow the team's social media to stay up to date:

@DesmoSportDucati

2023 Australian Superbike Championship

• Round 1: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Feb 24-26 10-9-11: 10th Overall
• Round 2: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Mar 24-25 9-6: 7th Overall
• Round 3: Queensland Raceway, QLD Apr 28-30 8-13: 11th Overall
• Round 4: Hidden Valley Raceway, NT Jun 16-18
• Round 5: Morgan Park Raceway, QLD Jul 14-16
• MotoGP: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC Oct 20-22 (non-championship)
• Round 6: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC Oct 27-29
• Round 7: The Bend Motorsports Park, SA Dec 1-3