The time has come to fire up for another season of the British Talent Cup after a two-day test at Valencia, with the class of 2019 ready to go and raring to race. Silverstone is the venue for Round 1 and the BTC share the first stage of the season with the British Superbike championship, for whom the weekend is also a season opener – sure to ensure an event to remember.
It was Scott Ogden who set the pace in testing ahead of Cameron Horsman, but the gap between the two was only 0.013 and Valencia is a very different venue to the fast behemoth of Silverstone. So despite the top ten in testing all proving veterans, there’s more than time for the timesheets to get a shake-up back on UK soil. There are also practice sessions and qualifying before the lights go out, giving the rookies a little more time to adjust.
In addition, Scott Swann was the returning rider who had the best finish at Silverstone in 2018, taking fourth as the podium was locked out by riders who’ve moved on to pastures new – and it was only one race on the international layout the grid had to try and tame the circuit as Race 2 was cancelled due to track conditions. That could play into the hands of the rookies as it means their rivals have that little bit less experience, and this time around it’s the national layout.
Testing is one thing, but the long expanse of Silverstone at full racing speed is quite another. Tune in for the first British Talent Cup races of the season on the 20th and 21st April, with Race 1 underway at 14:00 on Saturday and Race 2 at 10:30 on Sunday.