Tommy Hill ruled out of Vallelunga test

Virgin Yamaha’s Tommy Hill had his test on the World Supersport factory SSP Yamaha R6 in Vallelunga cancelled just hours before he got on the bike. Hill was due to test the bike after a position became available in the team following Kevin Curtain being injured and Anthony West leaving the team to join Kawasaki in MotoGP.

The 22 year old Briton was only scheduled to get out in two of the four sessions with Australian Supersport contender Jason O’Halloran being tested out in the other two, but technical regulations prevented the Yamaha team from running all three riders.

Yamaha need a replacement for the rest of the season which made the decision to not test Hill an obvious one as he is already committed to the Virgin Yamaha for the rest of the year.

In his absence O’Halloran will get two days on the bike and impressed the team by ending the opening day in 11th in his first ride on the bike, track and Pirelli tyres.

Team Manager Terrel Thien said:

“We knew that we couldn’t run three bikes but we thought we would be able to run three riders on two bikes, but this isn’t allowed according to FGSport. It’s a shame because Tommy was keen to get on the bike and it would have been good for us to see what he thought. In the end we had to put Jason on the bike for the full test because he only has one race left in Australia and it doesn’t clash with WSS.

“Even if Tommy had ridden the bike there was never any intention to ask him to ride in both BSB and WSS. It would have been too much to ask and not fair.”

Speaking to MCN Hill said:

“I’m gutted, it looks like a mega team, very professional and I was ready to ride, but it looks like the politics of racing got in the way. One of the bikes was set-up for me and I was really looking forward to it. I’m sure it would have taken me a while to get into being on a Supersport bike after a Superbike, but I would have taken it steady and just chipped away.”