SIMON Andrews and the Piranha Rac-ing team set a new British Supersport lap record on their way to an historic first win at Mondello Park in Ireland on Sunday.

It was a steady and methodical build-up for the Cheltenham- based squad with a number of changes being made to the Yamaha R6 after the first qualifying session that saw Andrews move up the grid from 13th to third.

With further changes made overnight the team were confident that they had the right race package.

The race started well for the Vale racer who became embroiled in a four-way battle for second place during the early part of the race.

Having moved into second, he then set about chasing down race leader Michael Laverty who had made an early break and built up a five-second buffer on the chasing group. Andrews gradually reeled him in and got past the Ducati rider on the penultimate lap, eventually finishing nearly four seconds clear.

Andrews said that it was a special day for everyone associated with the team.

"Once I got past the pack fighting for second place I really went after Michael," he recalled.

"I could see from the pit board that I was catching him by half-a-second a lap so I knew that I could reel him in.

"It's a special day for everyone - it's my first big win and the first for the team. Picking up a lap record along the way just makes it all the sweeter. It's been a long time coming but I knew we could do it."

Piranha Racing team manager Andy Colbourne echoed those sentiments.

"This is not just a big day for Simon and the team but Yamaha as well," he proudly declared.

The R6 has always been a potential race winner with a superb chassis and strong engine. I'm chuffed to bits that we've brought home their first win in Supersport for several years.

"As Simon said, we knew we could do it - the job now is to keep on pushing going into the second half of the season."