Shane 'Shakey' Byrne set the fastest ever lap of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit to lead the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship contenders into this afternoon’s Datatag Qualifying session in Kent.

Byrne took the initial lead after the opening laps of the session before Tommy Bridewell and the Bennetts Suzuki team hit the top at the beginning of the final practice. The leading pair held the advantage from Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot and Jason O'Halloran, but the positions were constantly changing.

Luke Mossey was then closing in on Byrne, moving into second place by 0.014s behind the Be Wiser Ducati rider with less than ten minutes remaining on the clock. O’Halloran was on his final stint though and the Australian moved to the top, pushing Byrne and Mossey back to second and third respectively.

Byrne was pushing though to move back to the top of the times and he did just that, with an inch perfect lap to set the fastest ever two-wheel lap of the Grand Prix circuit to push O’Halloran and Honda Racing back into second place.

Mossey held on to third place with Glenn Irwin climbing to fourth in the final moments of the session on the second Be Wiser Ducati. Richard Cooper again completed the top five for Buildbase BMW, pushing Bridewell back into sixth place.

Danny Buchan had a stronger session this morning to push into the top ten on the Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati in seventh place ahead of Christian Iddon, who saved his best until last in the final free practice session to move into eighth. Jakub Smrz and Peter Hickman completed the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Free Practice three:

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:24.838s
Jason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.380s
Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.622s
Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.648s
Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +0.879s
Tommy Bridewell (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.988s
Danny Buchan (Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati) +1.018s
Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +1.089s
Jakub Smrz (Smiths Racing BMW) +1.113s
Peter Hickman (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +1.214s