Thruxton BSB preview: Team IWR

Carl Cox Motorsports insight article

James Buckingham, IWR's Team Manager, gives us some insights in to this weekend's British Superbike round at Thruxton, the UK's fastest circuit.

Thruxton in Hampshire is Team IWR's local circuit, even though we're still based over a hundred miles away in Devon. We've previously had a Superbike podium here back in 2011 with Peter Hickman, so we definitely have good memories of the place. 

Thruxton is definitely a challenging track, as it's the fastest circuit on the British Superbike calendar, with another characteristic being its super abrasive surface. It's so tough on tyres that Pirelli bring a harder rear here, which our rider Ilya Mikhalchik has not used to date. But that shouldn't cause too many issues as Ilya's good with tyre management. Some of his fastest laps are late in a race, plus he won at Thruxton in Superstock last year.

The two long races are both twenty laps in length, so you really have to think about both tyre performance and slipstreaming. Quite often there's a big pack all holding station until a banzai last lap, which makes for thrilling racing!

There's also another unique scenario at Thruxton, as it's the only track that no one gets to test at due to noise restrictions. So, we currently have zero data on the BMW. But all that changes this Friday! As always we're looking forward to getting at it, roll on the weekend.