Road racing star Michael Dunlop is in action this weekend at the opening round of the truncated 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park.

Dunlop is riding for the Buildbase Suzuki team on a GSX-R1000 and was 28th fastest in the first free practice session for the National Superstock 1000 class on Friday.

He was later 31st quickest in FP2, 2.2s down on pacesetter Tom Neaves (Honda Racing). Fellow road racers Davey Todd (Honda Racing), Ian Hutchinson (Edwards 1902 BMW), and Dean Harrison (Harrison Engineering Kawasaki) were 13th, 22nd and 33rd respectively.

The Ballymoney man is back in familiar surroundings with Stuart and Steve Hicken’s Hawk Racing outfit and has previously tasted success on the Suzuki at the Isle of Man TT in 2017, when he won the Senior race.

He participated in the recent official BSB test at Donington on the Suzuki and also got some laps under his belt at Mallory Park in June.

Dunlop, who has also won on 1000cc BMW machinery at the North West 200 and TT under the Hawk Racing banner, was due to ride a Ducati Panigale V4-R for Paul Bird’s team on the roads this year.

However, the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the calendar, with the North West and TT both cancelled due to the outbreak, while the Ulster Grand Prix was a non-starter as the event faces a financial crisis.

Dunlop last raced at the Classic TT in August 2019, when he was cruelly denied victory in the Superbike race on the 1100cc Team Classic Suzuki after stopping at Hillberry on the final lap.

The organisers of the Cookstown 100 hope to run their event from September 11-12, which will be the only Irish road race to take place in 2020 if the meeting successfully goes ahead.

As it stands, the Barry Sheene Classic (August 14-16) and Gold Cup (September 11-13) road races are scheduled at Oliver’ Mount, Scarborough, while the Macau Grand Prix in southern China in November is also presently still on.