The McAMS Yamaha team concluded the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike pre-season test tour in the best way possible with riders Jason O’Halloran and Tarran Mackenzie atop of the timesheets in the final test at Donington Park.

Following a thorough pre-season testing programme as the team looks to make gains from its best ever year in BSB in 2020, O’Halloran and Mackenzie were quick at each track they visited on this year’s test tour ahead of the later start to the season.

Both riders were in the top five in the opening test of the year at Silverstone while O’Halloran went on to top the Oulton Park test following next to no track time at the washout that was Snetterton. A productive test at Knockhill was next, with both riders making further progress, which was then concreted at Donington Park where O’Halloran’s time of 1’05.725 placed him less than a tenth ahead of his team-mate Mackenzie.

O’Halloran was quickest in two out of the three sessions in the final test, also showing impressive times on used rubber, particularly in session two where his quickest time came on lap 26 of the tyre. He then remained at the top of the timesheet despite sitting out the final ten minutes of the session.

Mackenzie was equally as impressive on used rubber throughout the day, able to post competitive lap times with relative ease as they fine-tuned the set-up of their R1. Storming to the top of the times with two minutes to go in the final session, he’d only be narrowly pipped at the end by his team-mate.

Ian Hutchinson made significant progress on his Edwards 1902 R1 Superstock machine, setting the fifth fastest time in the final session to end the test seventh overall.

With testing now complete, the team will now ramp up their preparations for the 2021 championship getting underway on the final weekend of the month at Oulton Park.


Jason O’Halloran - 1st - 1:05.725

“It’s obviously nice to finish pre-season testing on top but I’m more pleased with how we performed in the second session today. I set my fastest lap on the last lap of a 26 lap race run and felt really good and comfortable on the bike. The boys have done a really great job this pre-season and the bike has improved from where we were last year. I’ve got a really good feeling with it, I feel I can go fast whenever I want to. We’ve still got a few things to work on as we increase the speed so we’ll work on that between now and Oulton. I can’t wait to start racing now, it’s been a long time since October last year. We’ve had a great pre-season, so now it’s time to reap the rewards of our work.”

Tarran Mackenzie - 2nd - 1:05.909

“I’m really happy with how today went. We came here with the setting we found at Knockhill and chipped away all day. We had a good feeling straight away with the bike so it was a case of fine-tuning that. Even when we’d done a few laps on the tyres we were still pretty quick, I’d have liked to have done one long run but the laps we did get in I was very happy with. From where we started the first test at Silverstone to where we are now I’m a lot happier so it’s a nice way to end testing and I’m looking forward to Oulton Park in two weeks’ time.”

Ian Hutchinson - Edwards 1902 Yamaha - National Superstock

“I am really pleased with the progress we’ve made at both the Knockhill test last week and here at Donington Park today. I hadn’t had a lot of track time on the bike before these two tests and we’ve spent a lot of time learning the bike and understanding how it behaves. The more I ride it the more I’m enjoying it, the past two tests have been really positive and that showed in our lap time today. I’m looking forward to getting to Oulton Park now!”

Steve Rodgers - Team Owner

“We all know that testing is testing but to leave the final test of the year 1-2 on the timesheet is a really nice feeling for the team. The guys have put a lot of work in through the winter to make a step forward with the bike and we really believe we have achieved that. To have both riders setting such great lap times goes some way to showing that and it’s not just when they stick a tyre in either; Jason has been setting some very good lap times at the end of race runs and Taz made a huge step over the last two tests in getting more comfortable with the bike so I genuinely believe we are in a very strong position for the opening round. Obviously it’s easy to say that now, but we’ll find out in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait to get going.”


1  - Jason O'Halloran  - 1:05.725 Yamaha
2  - Tarran Mackenzie - 1:05.909 Yamaha
3  - Kyle Ryde  - 1:06.007 BMW
4  - Glenn Irwin - 1:06.060 Honda
5  - Danny Kent  - 1:06.140 Suzuki
6  - Josh Brookes  - 1:06.410 Ducati
7  - Christian Iddon  - 1:06.448 Ducati
8  - Gino Rea  - 1:06.466 Suzuki
9  - Lee Jackson  - 1:06.471 Kawasaki
10 - Peter Hickman  - 1:06.563 BMW