Ducati riders complete the final British Superbike pre-season test at Donington

VisionTrack Ducati teammates Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes, and Oxford Products Ducati's Tommy Bridewell, were back on track yesterday for the final British Superbikes pre-season test at Donington Park.

Josh Brookes posted the fastest time out of the three Ducati riders with a 1:06.719s lap around the Donington National circuit on his fourth and final session of the day. 

Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati #21)
"This is the last chance we get to ride the bikes in anger before the season starts as proper. It's been a long wait for the start of this season so I'm now excited and ready to go. It's been a very productive day. The team's worked well and the bike's feeling good. We will check the data and make a few little alterations ready for the race weekend coming up."

Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25)
"Today was quite difficult at first. We were last on track at Knockhill, and made some good improvements for that circuit, but they didn't transfer to Donington Park. We referred back to the feeling I had with the bike at Jerez in February pre-season and finished the day only one tenth off the fastest. Really pleased to finish the day quite strong and now looking forward to getting racing again. It feels like a very long wait is almost over."

John Mowatt (VisionTrack Ducati Team Co-ordinator)
"We've had a couple of tests at Knockhill and Croft which we though would put us in good stead for here. We came here with a setting direct from Knockhill and obviously the track there is quite unique. The boys came away from that setting, especially on Josh's side, for the last session and went back to the setting they ran in Jerez and they seemed to be much happier. 

As we've seen in the past, Josh is a racer and getting laps under his belt today was good and from that perspective it's been a worthwhile exercise.

Christian has spent many years on a different manufacturer's motorcycle and just needs to get his head round how the Ducati Panigale V4 R works but he'll get there. The tracks coming up for us should be good. We'll get together as a team, figure out any issues and resolve them as quick as possible."

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati #46)
"It's been a productive day and the bike's working relatively well. It's nice for the whole team to be back working together. It's been a long old time since we've been back in force really. We've still got a lot of work to do, we've got a lot of new stuff on the bike. But I'm happy and looking forward to getting back here, racing on the Oxford Products Ducati Panigale V4 R."

Iain Hopcroft (Oxford Products Ducati Team Manager)
"We've had a very productive test. And it is a test for us. We've been testing the new exhaust and some other bits and pieces that we've got this last few weeks over lockdown. We weren't out for lap-time, we weren't interested in that. We are lap record holders here at Donington National so that wasn't the plan for us today, it was quite nice to have that pressure taken off of us. Now we've got a good setting for when it comes to racing we wanted to try all the other stuff out, especially fuelling with this new exhaust. Termignoni have made us a lovely new pipe, a lot lighter and gives us more horsepower gain, at a circuit like this it's invaluable.

Tommy stuck to the schedule but he does get a little bit frustrated, all riders do because they just want to go fast. But we've had a very good day. Stayed upright and got some figures the guys and girls can chew on, fuelling, engine brake and chassis stuff. Not just for the National but also when we come back here to the full circuit too.

It's been great having everyone stick with us in this lockdown period. Everyone's been very supportive and we've been doing a lot of research and development, so now we can hit the ground running with some really nice parts and support. "

The riders and teams head back to National circuit at Donington Park next month (7-9th August) for the Round 1 triple-header at the restarted 2020 British Superbike Championship.