2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Practice Results

The opening day of BSB action at Donington Park saw a late lap from Glenn Irwin take over at the top of the timesheets to leave the Ducati rider heading into qualifying with the top time.

Round two saw the Hagar PBM rider start the session fifth after his FP1 performance. Finding clear air after having slipped back to tenth the Northern Irish rider pulled out a lap of 1m 27.370s - closing in on his own lap record on the opening day.

That time took the top spot away from FP1 and early FP2 leader Bradley Ray after an incredibly consistent session for Raceways Yamaha where he run similar laps from start to finish, on old tyres and new and just 0.093s off the lead time.

Rory Skinner had impressed in the morning after feeling he made a step to improve his Cheshire Mouldings Ducati, which continued into the afternoon - third in both sessions.

Reigning champion Kyle Ryde lost both of his best laps after starting with purple sector one times - out of track limits at the Fogarty Esses on both occasions. When not quite as on the limit the OMG Nitrous Competitions rider was lapping strongly enough for fourth.

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Leon Haslam was fast again for Moto Rapido Ducati setting the fifth best time, ahead of top Honda rider Charlie Nesbitt, who started the second session outside of the top twelve, but went onto move up to sixth despite several track limits transgressions.

Lee Jackson was also heading in the right direction with the seventh best time, before his DAO Racing Honda stopped at the end of the session with a technical issue.

Josh Brookes struggled for a clean bit of track but believes he has podium pace on his DAO bike, only just slower than his teammate in eighth.

Max Cook was the top Kawasaki in ninth for AJN Steelstock, with both of their bikes moving into Q2 directly with Christian Iddon eleventh.

They were split by Andrew Irwin, whose late improved lap knocked his Honda Racing UK teammate Tommy Bridewell out of the top twelve - his bike getting a lot of work after the chequered flag after finishing 13th.

Combined Direct Q2 Top Twelve

1: Glenn Irwin (Hagar PBM Ducati) 1m 27.370s (FP2)
2: Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 1m 27.463s (FP2)
3: Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) 1m 27.490s (FP2)
4: Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) 1m 27.507s (FP2)
5: Leon Haslam (Moto Rapiso Ducati) 1m 27.534s (FP2)
6: Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) 1m 27.743s (FP2)
7: Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Hoonda) 1m 26.774s (FP2)
8: Josh Brookes ( DAO Racing Honda) 1m 27.885s (FP2)
9: Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 27.935s (FP2)
10: Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) 1m 27.935s (FP2)
11: Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 28.043s (FP2)
12: Scott Swann ( Send My Bag Racing by IWR Honda) 1m 28.098s (FP2)

The final Q2 slot and place in the top twelve went to rookie Scott Swann , getting the automatic slot for the first time in just his second round with Send My Bag Racing by IWR Honda.

Bridewell was not the only rider to miss out - a second crash in the later session spelt disaster for Danny Kent as he was left 14th for McAMS Yamaha, with big repairs needed overnight.

John McPhee ventured out after his earlier fall, but headed straight back to the pits with more work needed on his MasterMac machine before FP3.

Donington Park sees a British Superbikes  return for Tom Sykes at Sencat In Competition by Swann Racing Aprilia, in for the recovering Lewis Rollo. Sykes comes with pedigree at Donington - on his return in 2022 he was a race winner.

Playing catch-up afte r22 months away from riding a bike and with some teething issues to fix Sykes was 23rd after Friday Practice.

Official British Superbike Donington Park Records:

Lap record: Glenn Irwin (Ducati, 2024) 1m 27.345s

Donington Park in 2024:

Race 3:

Qualifying: 1 Rogers (2 Bridewell, 3 McConnell)

Race 1: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 Haslam)
Race 2(Sprint): 1 G Irwin (2 Haslam, 3 Bridewell)
Race 3: 1 O’Halloran (2 Bridewell, 3 Kent)

Race 10 (Showdown):

Qualifying: 1 Ryde (2 Kent, 3 Brookes)
Race 1: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 G Irwin)
Race 2 (Sprint): 1 G irwin (2 Bridewell, 3 Ryde)
Race 3: 1 Ryde (2 Kent, 3 Vickers)

FP1:

Ray picked up where he left off and was immediately fast, with Haslam picking up places late on to finish just 0.045s slower. He pushed Skinner, who had been second much of the session back to third, with Ryde, who was late out on track fourth and Glenn Irwin completing the top five.

Swann was again the best rookie, in an impressive sixth, with Bridewell, Cook, Kent and Brookes completing the top ten.

The first session began with Richard Kerr high-siding moments after getting on track, his bike was avoided by Bridewell, who was right behind. Kerr was sent to the medical centre for further checks but was back on track for FP2.

Soon after John McPhee was unseated at the Old Hairpin, he too walked away unscathed.

With fifteen minutes left to run Danny Kent was off at Mcleans and was taken to the medical centre, with a red flag to allow for a track clean-up to remove the gravel.

Peter Hickman fell late on at the Melbourne Hairpin, but got up and carried on with just six minutes remaining and was the first rider to take the chequered flag.