Josh Brookes had good reason to celebrate pole position at Brands Hatch although he admitted to being far from comfortable in the conditions. Rain fell towards the end of Q1 and the track remained damp for the rest of the session bur Brookes coped best to secure top spot on the grid for race one.
“I'm sure everyone else will say the same: it was horrible conditions to ride in, but once I got a feel for the track it generated a bit of confidence”, commented the Australian. “In the first session there were damp patches and I was waiting for the front to tuck, but in Q2 and Q3 with wets in I felt even more confident and wasn't worried about running off the dry line. I just hope there was some element of entertainment out there for the fans in the rain as on the bike it was pretty scary. It's great to post the first pole position slot of the year for Suzuki and all our new sponsors.”
Tyco Suzuki teammate Alastair Seeley didn't enjoy the wet conditions either but he didn't have a good result to cheer him up. The reigning British Supersport champion is confident that he can come through the field in race one and set up an easier race two.
“It's always disappointing not to make Q3 but the conditions were tough today and with the bike 'walking around' on me in and out of the turns I didn't feel we could push any harder. We just need a good start tomorrow and hopefully race one will give me a better grid position for the second race.”
Team Manager Philip Neill was delighted with the qualifying result although he acknowledges that the hard work will be done tomorrow.
“After all the hard work over the winter we couldn't ask for a more positive start to the season. These are morale boosting moments that also get you through the tough days. There are no points to be had in qualifying but pole position demonstrates the quality of the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 package. Josh has been in a great frame of mind all weekend, which is good to see; it has been a great team effort. It was a little disappointing for Alastair today as we know he is capable of much more, but just have to accept he has yet to find the correct set-up.”