Josh Brookes is pinning his hopes on a strong race set-up after struggling again in qualifying for tomorrow's first British Superbike race at Thruxton.
The Australian will start down in fourteenth after missing out on Q3 by half a second, and will have his work cut out if he is to secure a sizable points haul on Bank Holiday Monday.
Brookes admitted he was frustrated with the end result on Sunday but is certain he will move forward once the racing gets underway.
“We’re not miles away, but it feels like we are miles away! I don’t know what to say; if I did I suppose I’d be going quicker, but every round so far we’ve had to come from less than average qualifying positions. It’s not a sprint and there are plenty of laps in the race to make up the places – it’s just annoying I suppose that it takes us so long to get up to speed on a weekend. I’m really not too concerned though as I know I’m a better racer than a qualifier, although it would be better for the team if we were closer to the front in qualifying.”
Relentless Suzuki team manager Phillip Neill admits the team may take a different approach to weekends in the future to help Brookes in qualifying but is confident the Australian's overtaking skills will come to the fore on race day.
“Unfortunately we are still in this mode with Josh working towards race set-up all the time and this weekend it has taken us more time than we anticipated, maybe trying to over-correct things after fitting a new tank and seat unit. But we are now making strides forward and are confident with the set-up for race one.”
“We are hopeful of mixing it at the front in the races tomorrow as Josh has shown as he doesn’t have a problem making passes from wherever he qualifies. In saying that we need to look at making his job easier in the future and that will mean qualifying higher up the grid.”