It was a successful weekend for the T3 Racing team at Donington Park as Alex Olsen secured the debut Supersport EVO Championship with three rounds remaining. Supersport rider Luke Jones overcame machine troubles to secure sixth while Aleix Aulestia returned to action in the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship, taking seventh.
Struggling with braking throughout the weekend, British Supersport rider and Acumen/Ace sponsored Luke Jones struggled to get his Triumph 675R stopped around the final part of the circuit. Battling through the problems, Luke qualified in the top ten with a ninth position. In the EVO category, PPR/T3’s Alex Olsen once again dominated the class by qualifying fastest EVO and twelfth overall.
In the opening Sprint race, Luke dropped back to thirteenth by the second lap. Battling through the intensely competitive field however, he was able to pick off riders to work his way up to ninth by the time the chequered flag came out. EVO rider Alex Olsen took a flying start, mixing it up in the top ten of the full Supersport class. Finishing twelfth overall, it marked the young rider’s eleventh EVO victory of the year.
The second race of the weekend, the Main Supersport race, saw Luke again starting from ninth with Alex in 13th. Enjoying a stronger start this time around, Luke kept his composure in an action packed race that saw many leading riders crash out of contention. Picking his way through the field once more he crossed the line in sixth, keeping his top five Championship hopes alive. A horrific looking start line crash saw Alex forced to slow down, leaving him last into the first corner. Picking off riders one by one, he was up to 23rd by the end of the opening lap and continued his impressive run, crossing the finish line in an incredible ninth overall and securing another EVO win. With a massive 153 point lead, with only 150 points remaining, Alex Olsen has now been crowned the first ever British Supersport EVO Champion.
In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship, Aleix Aulestia returned to action following recent surgery in Barcelona to solve arm pump issues. With one of the largest fields of the year, Aleix qualified in a strong 14th place as top Triumph rider. Despite being caught up in the opening laps, the young Spanish rider got his head down to fight his way to seventh by the chequered flag. With the Superstock 600 riders not heading to Assen, Aleix will contest in the Supersport EVO races on his stock 600 machine.
Speaking after the weekend, Luke Jones said; “It was a bit of a tough weekend if I’m honest, we struggled with the brakes in the final part of the lap and that really put us on the back foot. We had some bad luck at Cadwell, particularly in the second race, but it seems that’s continued over a bit into this weekend. That said, we took another pair of top ten results and are still fifth in the Championship. We can still head into the final three rounds pushing to secure some podiums!”
Newly crowned EVO Champion Alex Olsen said, “What a mega weekend! When we came here we weren’t really in a position to wrap the title up and I was expecting to do it at Assen, but to do it here is incredible! I started my career with T3 in the Triumph Triple Challenge so to be back with the guys and to win the first ever EVO Championship with so many wins and podiums has just been amazing; I can’t thank them all enough! The pressure’s off now for the next few rounds so I can relax and push to see just how far up the pack we can get the EVO machine.”
Returning rider Aleix Aulestia said, “It was great to be back on the bike this weekend. It’s been a long while away with the surgery but it’s paid off as I felt comfortable on the machine in every session. I took a bit of a slow start in the race but was soon able to get on the pace and push my way through the field. I’ll now be riding in the EVO class at Assen which I’m really excited about, it will be interesting to see how the stock bike will compare!”
T3 Racing would like to say a special thank you to Premier Velocity, Ace Cafe, Power Projects Racing, Acumen, Scorpion Exhausts, Osborne Clarke and Jack Lilley.