As with all the circuits on the calendar this year with the exception of Assen, Rory would turn up, this time at his home GP with no previous knowledge and no advantage over the rest of the Rookies as he had never ridden the 5.9km Silverstone Circuit before.
FP1 went well for Rory, running most of the session in 7th and finishing in 15th.
FP2 was similar but knocking more time off as he got up to speed with the circuit again finishing in 15th.
Qualifying started well with Rory running fairly well up the order, the bike was moving around a lot under throttle as he was now circulating 2 seconds a lap faster than FP2. He came in to the pits for a change to be made but when he re-joined there were no other riders around to chase and find a faster time, he ended the session in 19th position.
RACE 1 Saturday
Rory got a flyer of a start immediately making up several places over the first two laps. By lap three he was in the battle for 10th but kept getting held up when he would be passed on slip-stream and held up in the corners eventually he managed to open a gap and reel in the riders in the group in front, picking them off he worked his way to 10th place and crossed the line in his best position to date in the Rookies Cup.
RACE 2 Sunday
Sunday’s race was wet: very wet, the Rookies had had no wet time at all in 2015 on the bikes and going into the race would be the first time for all the first year riders to experience a wet set up on the bike.
They were given three sighting laps to get a feel and make any changes they wished, Rory had his suspension altered in the sighting laps then once more when joining the grid.
It was a fairly tense 5 minutes waiting on the grid to the warm up lap as the settings were really just a shot in the dark, there was no time to come back in to make any more changes so that was it for the race.
The lights went out and as the Rookies raced down to turn 1, it was impossible to see where Rory was amongst the group as visibility was near zero with the spray and misting of water being thrown up.
As they came round the final turn on lap 1 Rory was in 6th place pulling in 5th as they once again went into the mist at turn 1.
By lap 5 Rory had made it into 4th place and rode with precision over the remaining 9 laps in treacherous conditions bringing it home in his best place of the Rookies Cup season so far, 4th position.
Rory said: “I’ve had a great time here at Silverstone this weekend. It’s been fantastic with all the support I have had from all the public that have come up and wished me well, with my sponsor Racing Steps Foundation coming along to support me and wish me luck and with the help I have had from the team at the Rookies Cup to find the correct settings for my bike.
I wish I could have had a better qualifying and had a better placing on the grid, it’s so important to get in a group of riders as it helps to find more speed down the straight and as the times are so close itâ’s something I need to really work on but I still managed my best finishes of the season so far and hope to maintain that in the next round at Misano.
My finish in the wet was really good and I’m really happy with how I rode, now I have to try to do the same in the dry.”
Rory’s next race is at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit in Misano on Saturday 12th September