2025 British Superbikes: Brands Hatch - Practice Results

The opening Friday of the British Superbikes round at Brands Hatch saw Bradley Ray take over at the top towards the end of FP2 to move into qualifying with the best time at Brands Hatch.

Bradley Ray had again dominated at Knockhill, taking pole and two if the three race wins, and at his home track the Raceways Yamaha rider chipped away at his time for an eventual 1m 25.096s - enough to finish Friday in P1.

Rory Skinner was the rider to break Ray’s dominance at his own home round at Knockhill, taking a win in race three. The Cheshire Mouldings Ducati rider had been leading the way until eight minutes to go and remained second quickest, just 0.247s slower as his momentum continued.

Kyle Ryde was focusing on his previous positives at Brands, the scene of the crowing for BSB’s most recent champion. Yet to win a race in 2025, the OMG Nitrous Competitions had topped FP1 and improved in the second session to finish third before a very late fall at Stirlings as the #1 tried to figure out his isses at the turn.

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Leon Haslam is the only other rider to take a win amid Ray’s dominance and was second to Skinner when he had a light crash - a first of the season - at turn two, Druids, immediately re-joining, but with repairs seeing the Moto Rapido Ducati rider drop to fourth.

Scott Redding was back with the PBM team, now permanently with the outfit for the rest of the season after stepping up to replace the injured Glenn Irwin. 

Last at the track in his 2019 winning season, Redding again put in the most laps, as he had in FP1, returning for a final push and climbing to fifth, with a purple final sector elevating the former WSBK rider.

Christian Iddon was top three for much of the early part of the session but was relying on his FP1 time, the AJN Steelstock rider did go on to improve, for sixth overnight.

Danny Kent took his first BSB win at Brands last season and was also aiming for some repeat success at a track with good memories for the McAMS rider, and was well in the mix in seventh, just over half a second off the lead time.

Andrew Irwin was the best of the Honda Racing UK riders in eighth, ahead of teammate and former champion Tommy Bridewell, who was eleventh after electing, riskily, to end the session in the pits.

Lee Jackson was a ninth quickest for DAO Racing Honda.

Charlie Nesbitt also split the duo as he made his comeback after crashing in the first session, placing his MasterMac Honda inside the top ten, then attempting to help his rookie teammate John McPhee around, which stretched the Scottish rider into a late run through the gravel on his way to 18th.

The final automatic Q2 spot went to Max Cook on the second AJN Steelstock Kawasaki.

Combined Direct Q2 Top Twelve

1: Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 1m 25.096s (FP2)
2: Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings Ducati) 1m 25.343s (FP2)
3: Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing 1m 25.384s (FP2)
4: Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati) 1m 25.443s (FP2)
5: Scott Redding (Hager PBM Ducati) 1m 25.469s (FP2)
6:  Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 25.558s (FP2)
7:  Danny Kent (McAMS Yamaha) 1m 25.665s (FP2)
8: Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing UK) 1m 25.689s (FP2)
9: Lee Jackson (DAO Racing Honda) 1m 25.747s (FP2)

10: Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) 1m 25.791s (FP2)
11: Tommy Bridewell (Honda racing UK) 1m 25.792s (FP2)
12:  Max Cook (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 25.840s (FP2)

Josh Brookes just missed out, finishing 0.090s slower than cook in the second DAO Racing bike so will feature in Q1, as will top rookie Scott Swann who was 14th and Knockhill podium finisher Fraser Rogers who was 15th in FP2.

Storm Stacey who was the only rider not to go quicker after an early technical saw him stop at Druids, finishing 17th overall.
 

Official British Superbike Brands Hatch Records:

Lap record: Tommy Bridewell (Honda, 2024) 1m 24.767s

Brands Hatch in 2024:

Round 6:

Qualifying: 1 Vickers (2 Kent, 3 G. Irwin)

Race 1: 1 Vickers (2 Bridewell, 3 A. Irwin)

Race 2: 1 Vickers (2 Bridewell, 3 Ryde)

Race 3: 1 Vickers (2 Iddon, 3 Ryde)

Round 11 (Showdown):

Qualifying: 1 Vickers (2 Jackson, 3 Brookes)

Race1: 1 Kent (2 Vickers, 3 Bridewell)

Race 2: 1 Bridewell (2 Ryde, 3 Vickers)

Race 3: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 Vickers)

FP1

The first session of the afternoon, FP1 was topped by Ryde on his final lap, pushing Ray into a close second.  A much improved Iddon was third quickest with Kent and Haslam also putting in top five performances.

Redding was eleventh quickest, but ran a huge 22 laps as he reacquainted himself with Brands Hatch.

An early fall for Charlie Nesbitt at the Sheene Curve limited his track time in FP1, with issues for Lewis Rollo seeing him complete even lass laps, with just three turns of the circuit seeing him at the bottom of the timesheets.