A victory, a podium and a fourth place finish at Donington Park this weekend saw Glenn Irwin and the Hager PBM Ducati team remain well in contention for the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with one round remaining.

After taking a solid sixth in qualifying, Glenn was hoping for more in Saturday’s opening 20-lap race, held in sunny, but cool conditions and he didn’t disappoint. With main championship rivals Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell ahead of him, Glenn fought off the close attentions of his brother Andrew to finish third and claim 20 valuable points.

Sunday saw cool temperatures once again, this time under a cloudy sky for the remaining two races, and starting the 12-lap Sprint race from fourth on the grid, Glenn immediately slotted into third place behind Bridewell and Ryde. The trio were nose to tail throughout but Glenn grabbed the lead for the first time at half race distance, and although Ryde briefly got back in front at one point, Irwin went on to claim his eighth victory of the season.

That race saw Glenn set a new lap record which put him on pole position for the final race, held over 20 laps once more, from which he led for the first five laps before Ryde overhauled him. With temperatures dropping, as the race entered it’s final third, the Carrickfergus rider ran in fourth place, but before he could mount a podium challenge, the race was stopped due to a three-rider crash one lap short.

As a result of a solid weekend, Irwin heads to the final round at Brands Hatch in third place, 46 points behind series leader Ryde and with 105 points still up for grabs, Glenn is still in with a shout of the title.

Glenn Irwin: “It’s been a really enjoyable weekend, and we haven’t lost any ground in the title race so we can be pleased with our results across the three races, especially the victory in the Sprint race. When you win a race like that, you want to follow it up with something similar, but the conditions suited our bike best in that race, rather than the final race when it was a lot cooler. I was having to use the tyre a lot to stay with Kyle, but eventually, I had to ease the pace but to come away with first, third and fourth means it was a good weekend. I’ve got an open mindset about the final round so we’ll re-focus and go again. To be in with a shout ahead of the final round is great and hats off to Jordan and Frank for the team they’ve put together, the work and effort is non-stop.”

Jordan Bird, Team co-owner: “It’s been a solid weekend, and we were hoping to go into the final round less than 50 points off the championship so to achieve that is mission accomplished. With 105 points available at Brands, it’s still all to play for and it’s BSB where, as we know, anything can happen. Glenn’s still very much in the mix and in the form of his life so to be in title contention going into the final round is something we can all be proud of. This time last year there was a lot of uncertainty around the team and people thought we couldn’t do it without Dad at the helm, but it shows how strong a team we are. I think Dad would be both impressed and proud to see where we are and what we’ve done this year.”

Bennetts British Superbike Championship race one (20 laps)
1 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
2 Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +2.071s
3 Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) +8.689s
4 Andrew Irwin (Honda) +8.972s
5 Danny Kent (Yamaha) +9.710s
6 Charlie Nesbitt (Honda) +10.661s

Bennetts British Superbike Championship race two (12 laps)
1 Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati)
2 Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +0.241s
3 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha) +0.431s
4 Danny Kent (Yamaha) +0.741s
5 Charlie Nesbitt (Honda) +1.742s
6 Andrew Irwin (Honda) +3.067s

Bennetts British Superbike Championship race three (18 laps)
1 Kyle Ryde (Yamaha)
2 Danny Kent (Yamaha) +0.384s
3 Ryan Vickers (Yamaha) +1.727s
4 Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) +3.042s
5 Tommy Bridewell (Honda) +4.521s
6 Andrew Irwin (Honda) +4.826s

Championship Points (after ten rounds)
1 Ryde 398pts
2 Bridewell 394
3 Irwin 352
4 Kent 290
5 Vickers 265
6 Iddon 261