Kyle Ryde brought the curtain up on the first laps of the 2024 British Superbike Championship [BSB] as pre-season testing kicked off with a two-day test at Donington Park.

Coming just as the teams and riders are preparing for the opening round of the season to be held on European soil at the Navarra Circuit in Spain on 20-21 April, the two-day test represents the first track action for the entire BSB field since the 2023 BSB finale in October.

With track time split between three sessions today [Saturday] with another three sessions tomorrow [Sunday], it was OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing’s Ryde who’d shake out on top after leading the way in the second and third sessions of the day.

In what proved to be a strong show out of the box from 2022 BSB Champions OMG Racing - competing with official Yamaha UK backing for the first time - Ryde’s team-mate Ryan Vickers ran him closest, the Thetford rider just over a tenth off Ryde’s table topping 1m 28.367secs effort.

Last year’s runner-up Glenn Irwin posted the third quickest time as defending champions Hager PBM Racing Team debuted under their new moniker and management, the nine-time BSB champions - founded by the late Paul Bird - now being run by his daughter Jordan Bird.

The biggest surprise of the day, however, came from Dean Harrison, who impressed on his first official outing aboard the factory Honda CBR1000RR-R to set the fourth fastest time, placing him ahead of the manufacturer’s star signing in reigning champion Tommy Bridewell, who was sixth.

Between them sat Leon Haslam, the ex-WorldSBK rider - now racing under the Haslam Racing ROKiT banner - topping the timesheets in Session 1 but ending the day fifth overall.

Peter Hickman was the quickest of the BMW contingent in seventh place on the FHO Racing machine, while Jason O’Halloran was the fastest Kawasaki rider as he made his official debut with Completely Motorbikes FS-3 Racing. Josh Brookes and Charlie Nesbitt filled the remaining top ten positions for FHO Racing and MasterMac Honda respectively.