Peter Hickman and Alex Olsen were back onboard the Global Robots BMWs at Croft yesterday (Monday) for a private test as the team continued their preparations for the Bennetts British Superbike Championship restart next month.

The Global Robots BMW team had not been on track since their last test in Guadix back in March; however, with new components and strategies to run through, the team utilised the additional track time to assess the changes in preparation for the official test at Donington Park next week.

Hickman said:

“Over the winter the team have made some really good changes based on what we learnt last year and so we have done loads of work with the engine braking and throttle control, more so than with the chassis, which we started when we were testing in Spain. That was a different approach to last year. What we learnt at the Spanish tests in March meant that we had a load of strategies to start testing at Croft and each time we went out it felt like we had improved the bike.

“In fact the Croft test felt like we made more improvements than we have before in the shorter space of time and that was a really good feeling. I am looking forward now to how we compare to everyone else at the official test as that is the first time everyone is together again. That will be the first real marker of where everyone is at before the opening round.”

Olsen said:

“It was definitely nice to be back on track and get up to speed ready for the official test and the opening round. I felt like it was great for me to test and get comfortable on the bike, and at the end of the test I felt like we had made some really good progress. We were able to test some new parts and I can’t wait for Donington Park and continuing the development now. I feel like we can get there and push on ready for round one.”

Team Manager Darren Jones commented:

“It was great to have the band back together again at testing thanks to the support of all our partners led by Global Robots and Briggs Equipment.

“Behind the scenes it hasn’t stopped for the team and we have been working closely with our new title partner Global Robots who have manufactured new parts which we were able to test this week. We have done a lot of dyno work during lockdown and so we were finally able to put everything into practice at Croft and the feedback from the riders was really positive, so now we are all looking ahead to the official test.”