Sykes looking to be ‘stronger and more consistent’ at Donington Park

Nine-time WorldSBK race winner at Donington Park, Tom Sykes, hopes to find a better set-up that can ‘enable me to be more consistent and stronger’, heading into his home round.
Tom Sykes, Misano WorldSBK superpole race2021
Tom Sykes, Misano WorldSBK superpole race2021
© Gold and Goose

Round four of the 2021 WorldSBK championship is one Tom Sykes will be looking forward to more than most given his stunning record at Donington Park. 

The nine-time race winner at Donington has had a mixed season to this point aboard the new M 1000 RR machine. 

Sykes has a best finish of fourth which came in race three at Aragon - since then - no other top five results to this point, as BMW’s problems in high track temperatures continued to be a big issue at Estoril and Misano. 

However, if there’s one circuit where Sykes will expect to add some consistency and overall better performance to his season, it’s his home round. 

Speaking before the weekend, Sykes added: "For me, the Navarra test was good for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it was to continue the development of the new BMW M 1000 RR. 

"We had some items that we needed to confirm there and we were able to do that. Then it was great to learn the circuit and get some data there for when we go back in August for the races. 

"Now I am obviously looking forward to my home race at Donington. I’ve had a lot of success there in the past and I really hope that we can find the set-up to enable me to be more consistent and stronger over the race weekend. 

"We need to work on finding those last little items now to put us in that position. The new M RR has had a big step in terms of engine and braking performance and quite a number of other things so we just need to find the last part of the jigsaw so we can use all of this. 

"I am looking forward to going there and fingers crossed we can have some good British weather. But we take what we get and try to get a strong result."

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