Joe Collier - British Supersport Brands GP - Round 7

Joe Collier on the One Call JJR Triumph had a more progressive weekend at round seven of the Dickies British Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch. The youngster worked hard over the weekend to secure two 11^th places and a 10^th in the three races.

 

It has been a tough season for Joe up to now on the Triumph, the team have been struggling with set-up at the majority of rounds. The practice and qualifying session was hard and Joe struggled to bring his times down to put him higher up on the grid. He ended up qualifying in 19^th place for race one, he had a good start was 16^th after the first lap. He gradually worked his way up the pack and was locked in a battle with Jamie Perrin to beat him over the line for 11^th by 0.09.

 

For race two Joe moved up to 16^th and he got another good start and gained places off the line, he was locked in a three way battle and the trio pushed up through the pack. Each lap they were swapping positions and pushing for a top ten finish, once again Joe got the better of the other two riders to take a strong 10^th place.

 

He dropped back to 20^th on the grid for the main race on Sunday. Another good start saw Joe gain four places after lap one. The race was red flagged on lap four and re-started over 14 laps, Joe was 14^th after lap one but he ran wide on lap five and dropped back to 17^th place. The safety car came out on lap six for an incident and came in at the end of lap eight. Joe managed to take advantage of the pack bunching together and was soon back up to 14^th. Joe was battling with Matt Paulo and Bjorn Estment for the remaining laps and he was able to secure another 11^th place.

 

Joe Collier - "I felt this weekend has been much better than the previous rounds and we made some good steps forward. My qualifying position in all three races is what really let me down and having to start from so far back in each race was always going to be hard work.

 

However, I feel we made some good changes this weekend on the bike and I know now I have the race pace I just have to ensure I start from higher up the grid. It has been a slow process to get to this stage but I think Brands was the turning point.

 

We made a lot of changes to the suspension over the weekend, some worked some didn't but the Triumph felt better to ride and I am really looking forward to the rest of the season now.

 

We took a gamble during the red flag on Sunday and made a big change, it worked though and for the first time this year I matched my time from last season. It took a few laps of getting used to and I lost a few places on the first few laps but I got my head down and I was able push my way back through.

 

I enjoyed riding the bike this weekend especially in the third race on Sunday and really looking forward to the remainder of the season. I know I can run up at the front but I just need to piece everything together before I can do that.

 

Thank you to everyone involved this weekend for helping me and all the advice they have given me. A big thank you as always to One Call Insurance for their support and help through a difficult time."