Honda Racing opens its account at Donington Park
Donington Park GPHonda Racing returned to action in the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park for Round 2 of this year's 11-round series, bringing action in both the Superbike and Supersport classes
Round 2 of the 2025 Bennetts British Superbike Championship is well and truly underway, with the Honda Racing teams having completed Free Practice sessions on Friday in both Supersport and Superbike categories, then going straight into Qualifying and Race 1 for each class on Saturday.
In the Supersport class it was Dean Harrison who ended up setting the fastest lap of all in Free Practice. Harrison’s time of 1m 30.392s in the second session put him ahead of five-time Supersport champion Jack Kennedy, who ended the day sixth with a time of 1m 30.750s, as the pair of Honda CBR600RRs performed faultlessly throughout the day.
In the Superbike category, Andrew Irwin was passed fit for duty as he continues to recover from the shoulder injury that precluded him from racing in the opening round at Oulton Park two weeks ago. Team-mate Tommy Bridewell, the 2024 vice-champion, worked hard with the team to optimise his Honda Fireblade for the demands of Donington Park and the warm, sunny conditions.
In Qualifying, Kennedy took fourth place on the grid for the first of two Supersport races, setting a time of 1m 29.971s with Harrison in sixth on 1m 30.243s. In the race, Kennedy battled hard in the lead group, rising to second place before finishing in fourth while Harrison lost out at the start and finished in seventh.
The final Free Practice times in the Superbike class placed Tommy Bridewell in 24th place, forcing him to take part in the first Qualifying session. However, the team and the 2023 BSB champion had turned a corner with the performance of his machine, allowing Bridewell to go fastest in the first session and go on to claim fifth on the grid after the second session.
Irwin meanwhile ended Free Practice in tenth place and avoided the Q1 shootout. He would go on to qualify in seventh on the grid for the first of three races this weekend.
At the start it was Irwin who got away faster, slotting into fifth place as Bridewell slipped back to ninth. Irwin also nailed a super-fast lap time early in the race, his time of 1m 27.504s ensuring that he will start Race 2 from the second row of the grid before crossing the line in ninth place at the chequered flag.
Unfortunately for Bridewell, his race ended early after crashing on the fifth lap of the race. Fortunately, however, he emerged uninjured. The team will now regroup before rolling out of pitlane tomorrow in morning's Warm Up prior to the second and third races of the weekend.
“It is what it is. We’ve certainly made some steps forward, and I was really happy with the step we made just before Qualifying, but we’re still just too far off the pace of the very front-runners at the moment. The race just highlighted that, really, we have another big step to go before we can get to where we need to be and unfortunately the crash was really my fault, just being greedy on the throttle to try and make up for where we’re currently losing out. So we’ve got to keep our heads down and chip away at it and that’s all we can do. I’m really lucky to get away without getting injured. I was going end over end over end through the gravel thinking ‘bloody hell!’ but I’ve just got sore hands and we can try again tomorrow.”
“It is what it is. We’ve certainly made some steps forward, and I was really happy with the step we made just before Qualifying, but we’re still just too far off the pace of the very front-runners at the moment. The race just highlighted that, really, we have another big step to go before we can get to where we need to be and unfortunately the crash was really my fault, just being greedy on the throttle to try and make up for where we’re currently losing out. So we’ve got to keep our heads down and chip away at it and that’s all we can do. I’m really lucky to get away without getting injured. I was going end over end over end through the gravel thinking ‘bloody hell!’ but I’ve just got sore hands and we can try again tomorrow.”
“I think that the weekend so far has been a lot more positive than it might have been when you consider it’s barely a couple of weeks since my injury. In that light, getting eighth place in today’s race, my first race of the year, is something I’m pretty chuffed with quite honestly. The pace was good which puts us on the front two rows for the longer race tomorrow and we can look forward with an open mind. I’m really happy with my crew, everything’s working really well and after a good rest tonight I’m confident that we can keep building on what we’ve achieved so far and do a good job.”
“I think that the weekend so far has been a lot more positive than it might have been when you consider it’s barely a couple of weeks since my injury. In that light, getting eighth place in today’s race, my first race of the year, is something I’m pretty chuffed with quite honestly. The pace was good which puts us on the front two rows for the longer race tomorrow and we can look forward with an open mind. I’m really happy with my crew, everything’s working really well and after a good rest tonight I’m confident that we can keep building on what we’ve achieved so far and do a good job.”