Jason O’Halloran kicked off his renewed bid to secure title glory in the 2022 British Superbike Championship (BSB) off to the a fitting start as he led a tightly-packed field in first free practice for the opening round at Silverstone.
Making do without its defending riders’ champion Tarran Mackenzie this weekend after the Scotsman suffered his second ankle fracture of the off-season in a crash last week, McAMS Yamaha at least had O’Halloran to rely on aboard its sole R1 entry.
Topping both FP1 and the faster FP2 session around fast and furious short National configuration of the Northamptonshire circuit, O’Halloran kept his nose ahead of a close-following pack that saw just a single second cover the top 24 riders.
Stopping the clock at 53.107secs, he was a meagre 0.040secs clear of Kyle Ryde - a double winner at Silverstone in 2020 on Suzuki machinery - who together with OMG Racing team-mate Bradley Ray in fourth showed their muscle on last year’s title-winning Yamaha.
The OMG pair were split by third place man Lee Jackson on the distinctively-liveried FS-3 Racing Kawasaki, his strong start to the weekend being matched by team-mate Rory Skinner, the sophomore youngster turning in the sixth best time, just behind Christian Iddon, making his debut for Buildbase Suzuki this weekend.
Ryan Vickers was the quickest of the BMW contingent in seventh place, ahead of top Ducati rider Tommy Bridewell as Synetiq BMW duo Danny Buchan and Andrew Irwin rounded out the top ten.
Outside the top ten, Josh Brookes was the quickest of the Paul Bird Motorsport MCE Ducati’s in 11th, with high-profile new team-mate Tom Sykes only 18th but just half a second down on O’Halloran’s pace setting marker.
Sykes’ ex-WorldSBK sparring partner Leon Haslam was 14th quickest aboard the VisionTrack Kawasaki, while - unusually - Honda’s four-strong assault was headed up by Ryo Mizuno, the Japanese rider just ahead of Glenn Irwin in 15th and 16th respectively.
BSB Silverstone | Free Practice Results
| 2022 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone | FP1 + FP2 | Round 1 / 12 | |||||
| Rider | Nat. | BSB Team | Motorcycle | Lap Time | |
| 1 | Jason O'Halloran | GBR | McAMS Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 53.107 |
| 2 | Kyle Ryde | GBR | RICH OMG Racing | Yamaha R1 | 53.147 |
| 3 | Lee Jackson | JPN | FS-3 Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 53.204 |
| 4 | Bradley Ray | GBR | RICH OMG Racing | Yamaha R1 | 53.215 |
| 5 | Christian Iddon | GBR | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000R | 53.299 |
| 6 | Rory Skinner | GBR | FS-3 Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 53.343 |
| 7 | Ryan Vickers | GBR | FHO Racing | BMW M 1000 RR | 53.463 |
| 8 | Tommy Bridwell | GBR | Oxford Products Racing | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 53.470 |
| 9 | Danny Buchan | GBR | Synetiq BMW Motorrad | BMW M 1000 RR | 53.472 |
| 10 | Andrew Irwin | GBR | Synetiq BMW Motorrad | BMW M 1000 RR | 53.485 |
| 11 | Josh Brookes | IRL | MCE Ducati | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 53.490 |
| 12 | Dan Linfoot | AUS | iForce BMW | BMW M 1000 RR | 53.511 |
| 13 | Luke Mossey | GBR | TAG Racing | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 53.614 |
| 14 | Leon Haslam | GBR | Lee Hardy Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 53.634 |
| 15 | Ryo Mizuno | GBR | Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 53.648 |
| 16 | Glenn Irwin | GBR | Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 53.663 |
| 17 | Danny Kent | GBR | Buildbase Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000R | 53.687 |
| 18 | Tom Sykes | GBR | MCE Ducati | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 53.688 |
| 19 | Peter Hickman | GBR | FHO Racing | BMW M 1000 RR | 53.714 |
| 20 | Takumi Takhashi | AUS | Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 53.797 |
| 21 | Tom Neave | GBR | Honda Racing | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 53.817 |
| 22 | Storm Stacey | GBR | Team LKQ Euro Car Parts | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 53.965 |
| 23 | Josh Owens | GBR | Rapid CDH Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 54.028 |
| 24 | Dean Harrison | GBR | DAO Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 54.082 |
| 25 | Dan Jones | GBR | iForce BMW | BMW M 1000 RR | 54.264 |
| 26 | Chrissy Rouse | GBR | Crowe Performance | BMW M 1000 RR | 54.312 |
| 27 | Bjorn Estment | SWE | Powerslide/Catfoss | Suzuki GSX-R1000R | 53.421 |
| 28 | James Hillier | GBR | RICH OMG Racing | Yamaha R1 | 54.774 |
| 29 | Leon Jeacock | GBR | Specsavers Suzuki | Suzuki GSX-R1000R | 54.830 |
| 30 | David Johnson | AUS | RiCH OMG Racing | Yamaha R1 | 55.056 |
| 31 | Liam Delves | JPN | Rapid CDH Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 55.214 |
| 32 | Luke Hopkins | GBR | Black Onyx Security | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 55.258 |
