Ryan Vickers labelled his progress during the official two-day 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship pre-season test at Donington Park as ‘awesome’ in a marked contrast to his stuttering start to last year’s campaign.

The Norfolk rider, who enters into his second season with the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing team in 2024, shadowed pace-setting team-mate Kyle Ryde throughout the weekend encounter en route to third fastest.

Achieving his fastest lap of 1m 28.356secs - seven tenths down on Ryde’s benchmark - during the penultimate session of the weekend, Vickers says he was pleased with the outcome considering he didn’t attempt any time attacks in the blustery weather.

The strong start to proceedings for Vickers comes after preparations for his first season on the OMG Yamaha were interrupted by a crash and injury in testing that hindered him for the initial rounds.

“Awesome two days at Donington Park for the first official test of the year,” Vickers - who scored one of his two wins at Donington Park in 2023 - said. 

“We had a lot of new stuff to try and few changes that we needed to evaluate on the electronics and got through more than we thought we would have. 

“The bike feels great on both longer runs and one lap, even if we didn’t complete many time attacks. 

“We found a package that I’m comfortable on and I’m looking forward to getting to Navarra now and continue the momentum.”