James Ellison admits he isn’t bothered about a pole position start this weekend, as long as he can qualify on the front row.
The Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha rider finished today with the second fastest lap on the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit, 0.175s behind reigning champ Shane Byrne and just 0.347s off the lap record – which the Cumbrian still holds from 2015.
Despite opting to wait out the early morning drizzle and avoid FP1 all together, Ellison says he’ll be happy if he has the same pace tomorrow as he looks for a top three start.
“The thing with this track is it’s all about qualifying,” he told Bikesport News. “We’ve got the lap record and we did the fastest ever lap around here in qualifying last year.
“You don’t need to be on pole but a top three is vital here.”
He also reckons there’s plenty more to come from the TAG Racing squad as the team continues to chase speed with small setup changes, while Ellison is still getting used to a new suspension package, which he hasn’t been on for a number of seasons.
“Having the new team, we haven’t done a whole lot of testing but we had a great Donington Park and we started on the right foot.
“At the minute I’m still learning the suspension. I’ve been on Ohlins for the last few years and it’s my first year back on K-Tech so I don’t know any of the fork names, the shock names, the shim stacks, all that. It’s all based on feel.
“With any new team you’re always testing stuff. We’re not looking for new frames or new swinging arms, we’re just tweaking stuff.”