Honda Racing’s development rider Julien Da Costa started the first of his four wild-card MCE British Superbike rounds in a dominant fashion – and ended up setting the second quickest time in FP2 this afternoon at the Snetterton 300 circuit.
The three time World Endurance champion had a successful test at the track a few months ago, and the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade appears to be working well – after the Frenchman’s best lap of 1’48.309 placed him on the provisional front row.
The team are using Alex Lowes’ championship winning bike from last year and even though some of the spec has changed the crew have started the race weekend with the same settings that Lowes used back at the track 12 months ago, and it’s a case of so far so good for the Honda Racing team.
“I felt more confident lap after lap and with my team we set the bike to be as comfortable as we could - but we had to be quick too. The bike is in a good way. We are using Alex's old bike from last year – but with some new specification,” said Da Costa, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the Honda garage.
“We started with Alex’s settings from last year as his weight and his riding style are similar to mine, and it went fast here, so we haven’t changed so much today.
“We might look into other set-up changes tomorrow, but the aim is the top five. We can dream about a podium and we will see on Sunday. Each day is another day – and tomorrow I need to qualify on the front row, but we will see.”
