Byrne quietly confident with Be Wiser Ducati race pace

Shane Byrne says despite missing out on a front row start gains made with the Be Wiser Ducati from a new swingarm has stepped up his race pace.

Shane Byrne says despite missing out on a front row start in qualifying at Brands Hatch Indy gains made with the Be Wiser Ducati from a new swingarm has given him promising race pace against the trio ahead of him.

The defending MCE British Superbike champion will line up fourth on the grid for race one at Brands Hatch Indy thanks to his 45.030s but couldn't match the new lap record set by James Ellison as he grabbed pole with a 44.728s, joined by the JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of Luke Mossey and Leon Haslam on the front row.

Byrne says he's can't be thrilled with the front of the second row having aimed for higher but feels he is in prime position to attack the front three in the battle for race wins.

The Be Wiser Ducati rider, who has the most BSB wins of any rider at Brands Hatch Indy with seven, has confidence in his race pace compared to outright lap speed even though he set the fastest second sector time of any rider in the pole position shootout.

The five-time BSB champion has been evaluating a new factory swingarm on his Ducati Panigale R and feels gains made put him in a strong position to battle for race wins tomorrow.

"Qualifying has been a little bit difficult as we've had a bit of work to do this weekend and I think we've made a good methodical approach to our work," Byrne said. "Sometimes you can set the bike up for a fast lap but not have a great pace and sometimes you can have really good pace and not be able to do a great single lap. I think we were far more down that road than the outright pace road at the moment.

"That said, with the times being so close but impressively fast at the front I am relatively happy. We've been hovering around 45.3s and 45.2s towards the end of the sessions but it seems strange to say there might have been another one or two tenths out there for us.

"But when you ride around the Indy circuit and do as many laps as we do over the course of the weekend you don't just find half a second at the end. I'm happy because I feel I got the absolute maximum out of my package in Q3.

"When I saw my lap time I was happy but it wasn't good enough for the front row start which is what we wanted. Our pace over a race distance seems very good so we will see what tomorrow brings."

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