Oulton Park: Hill quickest by 0.7 seconds in free practice

Tommy Hill was fastest after Saturday’s two free practice sessions at Oulton Park in preparation for the second round of the MCE British Superbike Championship on Bank Holiday Monday.

Hill finished the afternoon session with a 1.35.682, just 0.246 off Oulton’s Superbike lap record set by Ryuichi Kiyonari in 2006. Hill’s time was seven-tenths quicker than second-place man, Michael Laverty, his Swan Yamaha teammate.

The session ended with a flurry of tyre changes with many riders opting for the softest Pirelli SC0 in a bid to claim bragging rights at the top of the time sheets but Hill said: “A lot of people are probably going to look at the time sheets and think I put a soft tyre in at the end like everybody else did, but I didn’t. I stuck it out on 
the same tyre I’d done 12 laps on. To do those times at the end of the session with the amount of laps on that tyre, it gives me confidence.”

Relentless Suzuki by TAS rider Josh Brookes was third quickest in the afternoon session, although the Australian led the morning session. Loris Baz completed the top four on the Motorpoint Yamaha, the only other rider within a second of Hill’s fastest time.