Glenn Irwin picked up his best points haul of the season so far at Brands Hatch, by finishing second in both races and securing his first-ever double podium in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
Irwin started the opening race of the day from pole position after a stunning lap on Saturday afternoon, but lost out to Josh Brookes at the start of the race. Irwin managed his pace throughout and pushed hard on the final lap, but he was unable to challenge the Australian.
Irwin started from the front-row in race two, slotting in behind Brookes once more. Irwin managed his race pace once again and was able to put Brookes under pressure on the final lap, losing out by just +0.090s.
Despite narrowly missing out on his first win of the season, Irwin was left feeling pleased with points haul:
“The first race was a bit of a game between Josh and me with both of us sitting back and not showing our true pace. I then got my head down and got into a nice rhythm and I came close to getting by Josh on the final lap, but I wasn’t quite close enough, so second place was a good result to start the day.
“The second race was a fair bit faster and it was important for me to have a bigger gap to the riders behind me. I had a bit of an issue early on when I hit a false neutral and Josh was stronger than me in some areas whilst I was stronger than him in others. I really tried hard as seen in the lap times and whilst you always want to win, I’m pleased to get my first double BSB podium today. Full credit to Josh and to my team so roll on the next round.”
The double podium finish means that Irwin has moved up into third spot in the championship standings, 17 points behind second-place man Jake Dixon. Leon Haslam still leads the way on 242 points.
Round seven of the 2018 British Superbike season will take place at Thruxton in two weeks time.
