Josh and Kiyo both have their sights set on maintaining the team’s impressive previous form on the world stage and will use the event to gauge themselves against their world championship counterparts. The pair currently lie second and third in the overall MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings and after the team secured a hat trick of victories at the Snetterton BSB round last time out they are now ready for the challenge of the two races on the new Arena circuit.

The team last entered rounds of the World Superbike Championship in 2008 at Donington Park and Portimao; securing front row starts at both rounds with Cal Crutchlow before he took a second place at Donington Park, whilst Leon Haslam finished third at Portimao.

Josh said:

“This weekend my approach and preparation will be no different to the BSB rounds as I am going there to do the best job we can. I don’t have any expectations in terms of results before we go to Silverstone; we know we are a winning team in BSB and between myself and Kiyo we have won eight races and had another several other podium finishes so far this year, so it will be a good experience to see how we compare to the world championship teams. It is a great opportunity for the whole HM Plant Honda team and having already raced in WSB; it feels natural to be back racing in that paddock this weekend. I just want to get the best results I can.”

Kiyo said:

“I am looking forward to Silverstone and I really want to get two good results as it will be important to have a good performance there. It won’t be easy and it is difficult to know how we compare to the other riders until we are on the track, but we have the potential to give them competition as we know from BSB that we are fast. It will be exciting for me and the team and we have improved all season so I want two good results this weekend. I am feeling nervous but confident at the same time as I have raced in WSB before, so that is not a problem. I want to show what the HM Plant Honda team can do against the riders in that championship.”

Team Manager Havier Beltran concluded:

“The HM Plant Honda team are really looking forward to this weekend. For us it is an opportunity to see how our performances on track compare to those of the WSB teams and riders. Josh and Kiyo have shown strong form in the past few rounds of the British Championship and have shown consistent race-winning pace. Josh has already ridden the new Arena circuit when he raced in the Superstock class at MotoGP and won both races, whilst Kiyo returns following his win at Suzuka, so both riders are aiming to carry their recent run of strong form into this weekend. We know that the HM Plant Honda CBR1000RR is a strong package as it has taken us to eight race wins and seven further podium finishes in BSB so far and Jonathan Rea has shown its capabilities on the world stage, so we are hoping to put on a good show for the British fans.”