Honda Racing re-sign Tinmouth, Linfoot & O'Halloran for BSB 2016
The Honda squad is to remain the same as last season
HONDA Racing have announced that they will be retaining Jenny Tinmouth, Dan Linfoot and Jason O'Halloran for their 2016 British Superbike campaign.
The trio raced for the Honda team last season and all will return to their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades next season.
Linfoot in particular will be looking at improving on his fifth place in 2015 after qualifying for the Showdown in his debut season with the title-winning team.
The Yorkshireman's season was hampered by a broken wrist after he crashed out of practice at Brands Hatch. As a result he missed the following two rounds after a brilliant start to the season, with a podium finish.
Speaking about staying at Honda, Linfoot said: 'I am really excited to be staying with Honda Racing next season and the continuity into 2016 is what I needed and I think we can really build on 2015.
'Over the past two seasons we have finished fifth overall in the standings, and last year that included missing some races through injury, so we really want to be fighting for more next year. I think we should be fighting for the top three in the standings, that is my goal and my obvious focus is to be scoring podiums immediately at the start of the season and keep consistent to get into the Showdown.
'I have definitely got areas that I can improve on myself next season and I have already learnt a lot from last season that should mean I can have a strong start to the championship.'
The Louth-based team have also made the decision to keep O'Halloran on-board which will be his sixth season with Honda and his second year in the Superbike category.
Like Linfoot, O'Halloran had held a position inside the top six after a double podium finish at Snetterton before his crash at Thruxton left him on the sidelines with a broken femur and left hand.
'I'm really pleased to be staying with Honda, in what will be my sixth year with them,' said the Australian. 'To have their support after my injury and missing the second half of the season has kept me going and makes me just want to come back stronger than ever.
'When I got injured I was lying fifth in the championship, finding my feet and felt like I could have secured a place in the Showdown, so it was a huge blow to myself and the team that I was forced to pull out.
'I think going into 2016 we're in a better position than we were this year, we learnt a lot during the first few rounds and I think we can have a strong championship and the Showdown is obviously the aim and once you are there anything is possible.'
Tinmouth, the only Honda Racing rider who escaped injury last year, is said to be over the moon to be a part of the Honda Racing team for a second year: 'It was a dream come true when I was asked to join last year and to be back for next year is just mega,' she said. 'This year I got to know the Fireblade, the team, and we collected a lot of good data, so we can go into the next season with most of the hard work done and just get cracking.'
