Byrne: 'Front row shows what we're capable of'

Shane Byrne was thrilled to secure his first front row qualifying of the season at Brands Hatch this afternoon after a tough weekend last time out at Oulton Park.

With wet weather washing out two out of three practice sessions and tricky hindering race action, Byrne was unable to make the progress he wanted with the Panigale at Oulton Park three weeks ago.

However, after a fully dry opening two days at Brands, Byrne and the Be Wiser Ducati team have been able to make a significant step forward with the Panigale R and were in turn rewarded with a front row start for tomorrow’s opening race.

“For someone that’s never happy unless he’s winning, I’m happy with that,” Byrne told MCN after qualifying. I think that shows the progress we are making as a team. If there’s ever a track where you have to literally scratch your brains out and drag every last thousandth out of the bike it’s Brands Indy.

“I’ve said all along that we could make some progress with some dry track time and as it stands right now we’re on the front row and that’s a better indication of where we are in the greater scheme of things. Hopefully we can continue to show that Oulton Park was a bit of a blip and we can crack on and try and do something tomorrow. It’ll be two really difficult races but we’ve done our work and fingers crossed we’ll be there or there abouts. If winning BSB championships was easy we’d all be at it.”