The McAMS Yamaha team are gunning for glory this weekend as the 2023 Bennetts British Superbike Championship heads to the super-fast Thruxton circuit for the seventh round of the 2023 Championship.

The Hampshire venue has proved a happy hunting ground for the Raceways-run team in the past, with every race win from the last two seasons going to the McAMS Yamaha team. Australia’s Jason O’Halloran took five of the six victories, missing out only to then team-mate Tarran Mackenzie in the final race of last year’s meeting. The 35-year-old is coming off the back of a largely positive weekend at Brands Hatch and the Lincolnshire-based rider is hopeful of playing to the R1’s strengths to help close the gap to the top of the standings this weekend.

Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat heads to Thruxton with much more confidence following more vital seat time on the R1 at Brands Hatch. The Spanish rider has prior knowledge of the short but rapid 2.35-mile venue following his ride there last year and is aiming to hit the ground running when action kicks off on Friday.

The team will be on track for practice on Friday with qualifying and the BikeSocial Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon. The two tyre-punishing 20-lap races take place on Sunday.

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
Championship: 6th (158.5 points)

“Brands Hatch was a weekend where we scored some good points and took top five finishes, but ultimately myself and the team are looking for more. I think Thruxton can be that weekend for us. I have won five of the last six races at Thruxton, so it has been a really good circuit for us as a team and one that I feel that the Yamaha should do really well at this year. Last year was probably one of the best races of the season between myself, Brad and Taz, all three races were enjoyable to be a part of; I obviously won the first two and finished third in the last one. I am feeling good and ready to get stuck in, hungry to get back on that top step. I want to win some more races this year and get that winning feeling back.”

Tito Rabat
McAMS Yamaha
Championship: 21st (16 points)

“I’m happy to be going back to Thruxton because I know the track from last year and after my two rounds with McAMS Yamaha already, I’m confident we can go well there. We will stay calm and remain focussed during the weekend and as always give it 100% on track to achieve the best result we can. We’re ready so let’s go!”

Steve Rodgers
Team Principal

“The goal is simple; we want to win as many races as we can before the end of our final season in BSB and that starts this weekend at a track where we’ve won six out of the last six races! Jason is the man around Thruxton, he’s won five out of the last six races there! We know the R1 works really well at Thruxton and can keep the tyre whereas some of the other machines struggle. However, we’ve had a mandate from Pirelli that all teams have to run the even harder SCD compound this weekend so that could come into play. For Tito, he knows the track this time so that helps, but Thruxton is still a very tricky venue to get right even though it’s quite simple! Hopefully he can learn how the R1 performs early on and have a strong weekend.”