Ahead of travelling to Douglas for the official launch of the 2013 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy, John McGuinness had a stunning outing at Brands Hatch on Sunday.
The 19-times TT winner dominated the National Superstock 1000cc Championship opening round until a mid-race slide saw him lose time and, eventually the lead. McGuinness kept the pressure on to record a well deserved podium finish.
The decision to race for Padgetts Honda at the event was taken just days before the weekend, but McGuinness was fully committed to the task, topping the opening qualifying session on Friday. He put in another good performance on Saturday to guarantee a front row start for the 24-lap race.
McGuinness took the lead immediately, building a gap over second placed Adam Jenkinson of 2 seconds at half distance.
However, lap 13 proved unlucky for McGuinness as he suffered a major slide coming onto the start/finish straight, a slide which almost pitched him over the handlebars and reduced his lead to 1.2s.
As he regrouped and got back into his rhythm, the chasing pack seized their opportunity to close up. With three laps to go, McGuinness still led, but Jenkinson made his move on lap 21 with Filip Backland following a lap later.
That pushed McGuinness back to third, coming home 0.9s behind race winner Jenkinson for a brilliant podium finish.
McGuinness said:
“What can I say, it was a brilliant race and given the fact we only put a late entry in a few days before the event, to end up third is a dream start to the year for both me and the team.”
“I’ve been testing quite a lot with the Honda TT Legends team so felt good straightaway on Friday and that form carried on throughout the weekend. I thought the other boys would overhaul me once they got dialled in, but it didn't happen and the front row was the ideal place to be.”
He added:
“I made the perfect start and immediately opened up a gap and a 2 second advantage around the short Indy circuit is worth almost double that. I was able to maintain a consistent pace and my lead stayed the same but on lap 13, I got a huge slide coming on to the start and finish straight.”
“My feet were on the floor, I was pushed into the tank and almost thrown over the handlebars and as I got back into my rhythm, the others saw their opportunity and reeled me in. Had it not been for that, I’m confident I could have held on for the win, but I’m delighted to be back on the box and it’s credit to the whole team that we could pitch up and be so strong each and every time we took to the track.”
McGuinness will join other leading TT stars and newcomers for the official TT 2013 launch, which begins with a signing session at the Motorsport Merchandise shop in Douglas from 5pm on Tuesday and concludes with the now traditional fans’ party at the Villa Marina on Wednesday night. The party will be available to watch via iomtt.com