Toparis ends the season with a double top ten at Brands Hatch

After a hard weekend Tom Toparis ended ninth and tenth during the British Supersport races at Brands Hatch. The Benro Racing rider was making steps forward during the final round of the season on this exciting and new track for the Aussie. 

It was a very cold final round of the BSB championship on the Brands Hatch rollercoaster. Tom Toparis had a decent first day. Brands Hatch was a new circuit for the Him this weekend, and he improved his lap time by two seconds in FP2 and he ended 14th on the timing sheets. Toparis had a difficult qualifying on a drying track during Saturday morning. Unfortunately he couldn’t get the most out of the bike and the Benro Racing rider ended in P20 (P13 Supersport) on the grid. It was again a learning day for the Aussie, because it’s hard to make big steps during the limited sessions on race weekends, also in combination with the cold and wet conditions. During the sprint race, Toparis improved his pace as the race went on. The 20-year old rider was able to finish ninth in race one. He had also some good fights during the second race on Sunday, where was also ended with a top-ten position.  

Tom Toparis: It was such a cool experience to be at a very famous track like Brands Hatch. It’s a wild layout with plenty of blind/undulating corners. Considering it was a another hard weekend, I think we ended today on a positive note. For a circuit like Brands Hatch, experience is everything. In race two I did my fastest lap of the weekend on my second last lap of the the race, after dropping almost another second from my race 1 lap time. So this just goes to show that laps around these types of tracks are what is needed to improve. Of course you want to be racing at the front, but under the circumstances and everything we’ve been through in the past 10 weeks, after missing all pre-season testing due to the virus, showing up to round 1 on a completely new bike and track, and also breaking my wrist and missing the majority of the season. I’m glad we got the call up from Jimmy and that I was able to come and get a taste of the British championship. I cannot thank my Benro Racing team enough for everything they have done for me on and off track this year. Sraar, Michelle, Jimmy, Willem, Karl, Jeroen and everyone involved have been absolutely awesome. I love racing here and especially with this great bunch of people.”

Sraar van Rens (team manager) “That was season 2020... The start of the season was delayed due to Covid-19 and it unfortunately ended our World Supersport step-up before the first race. I am very happy that we found a new challenge in the BSB. The first race on this very competitive level was great and we were just unlucky to miss half the season due to an injury. The last round at the highly characteristic track Brands Hatch was challenging, but we ended it with decent lap times on a new track for us. I am happy about the way we finished this strange and short season and I am looking forward what next year will bring!”