BSB Donington: Charlie Nesbitt set for Superbike debut with Buildbase Suzuki

Charlie Nesbitt will make his Bennetts British Superbike Championship debut this weekend with Buildbase Suzuki.

Nesbitt replaces Christian Iddon, who sustained a concussion and a broken hand in an incident involving Rory Skinner at Oulton Park last weekend. Like Iddon, Skinner will also not race this weekend as he too has sustained a broken hand.

Meanwhile, Nesbitt has impressed in his maiden Pirelli National Superstock Championship campaign onboard the VisionTrack-sponsored Suzuki GSX-R machine – prepared by the Hawk Racing team.

Nesbitt, who sits eighth in the standings, clinched his first win at Cadwell Park in August, and has a total of four podiums to his name so far.

“I can’t wait to get going,” Nesbitt said. “Obviously, it’s unfortunate, what happened to Christian, and you don’t want to get your shot on a superbike that way. But I had the chat with Steve [Hicken – team manager] on Sunday after Oulton because he knew that, with Christian being knocked out, he’d be unable to ride this weekend.

“I’ve had a go on the Superbike already; I’ve done a handful of laps at Mallory and did a session at Cadwell. Obviously not enough to get dialled in but enough to get an idea of how it feels, which is completely different to my stocker, with more power, more revs, better brakes, stiffer chassis, and so on.”

Nesbitt dominated the GP2 Championship in 2012, taking 14 victories and a further seven podiums on his way to the title. That year, Nesbitt finished inside the top two in every race he finishes, recording just one DNF.

“This weekend we’ll use FP1 to get comfortable, but I think my experience on the GP2 bike will help as I’ve at least got experience on a stiffer race bike, of using slicks,” Nesbitt added. “And then we’ll get into it from there. The team aren’t putting any pressure on me and have told me to go out and enjoy it, and I’m not putting too much on myself, but I’m a motorcycle racer so I’ve got an idea of where I want to be after Sunday.”

Qualifying at Donington Park is due to begin with Q1 at 13:10 on Saturday afternoon (October 1), and will be followed immediately by Q2 at 13:19. The opening race of the weekend is then scheduled to take place at 16:15.

Sunday’s races are pencilled in for 13:15 and 16:30 respectively.