Glenn Irwin Clinches Third In Title Race For Be Wiser Ducati

The Be Wiser Ducati team ended their 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship campaign at Brands Hatch with Glenn Irwin ensuring it was a successful conclusion to the season as he clinched third place overall in the final championship standings.

Having posted the second quickest time across the three free practice sessions, Glenn’s intentions for the weekend were clear and he went quicker still in Datatag Extreme Qualifying on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R with a time of 1m 24.876s. It saw him line up in second place and in the middle of the front row for today’s opening 20-lap race, the first of three across the weekend.

The 28 year old from Carrickfergus made the perfect start to the race, grabbing the lead off the line and from that moment on he was never headed. Despite coming under pressure initially from Jake Dixon and then, for eight laps, from Andrew, he never put a wheel wrong and ultimately took his first win of the year, and first Superbike win in the dry, by just under two seconds from Dixon.

The 25 points also saw him take a firm grip on third place overall in the title race with his advantage over Josh Brookes 13 points with just two races left. 24-year-old Andrew was also in excellent form and enjoyed a strong day, making it through to Q3 where he eventually qualified in an excellent fourth place to head off the second row, just over half a second adrift of pole position.

After his superb win in the opening race, Glenn lined up in third place on the front row for the opening 20-lap race where the sunshine of the previous day had been replaced by damp and dismal conditions. 

However, although he completed the first lap in seventh place on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R, he soon found himself slipping down the order and at one stage he was as low as 12th. The Ulsterman soon regrouped, however, and was rewarded for his efforts with a solid seventh at the chequered flag.

The result saw him line up in 12th place on the fourth row for the final race of the season held in heavy rain but a poor start left him with plenty of work to do. A chassis change to the machine didn’t work either resulting in him being down in 17th in the early stages, although he was up to 15th but pulled in to retire just before half race distance.

Despite today not going to plan, his race win yesterday was ultimately enough for him to clinch third place overall in the series, his best result in the three years of contesting the championship.

Younger brother and team-mate Andrew, meanwhile, started the day’s first race around the 2.43-mile GP circuit from second place, alongside Glenn on the front row, and was challenging for a podium when his hopes were dashed as he crashed at Graham Hill Bend on lap two bringing his race to an early and abrupt end.

It meant he had to start the second race from the fifth row of the grid, but a good start saw him move up to tenth at the completion of the first lap which was where he remained until half race distance when he was pushed back to 11th. He retook tenth on lap 12 but unfortunately crashed out for the second time when he fell on the penultimate lap. Despite the unhappy end to his season, the 24 year old finished in 17th overall after only contesting two thirds of the season.

Glenn Irwin: “After yesterday’s race win, it’s disappointing to end my term with PBM and Be Wiser Ducati with only a seventh place finish to show for my efforts and it was especially frustrating as we’d made a chassis change which unfortunately didn’t work out in the way that we’d hoped. The positive is that the race win on Saturday gave me enough of a buffer to clinch third place overall, something which I’m over the moon with. Retiring from my final race with PBM was a real shame but a massive thank you to them for everything they’ve done for me over the last three years.”

Andrew Irwin: “We had good pace in the wet today and in the first race I felt comfortable and confident that I could have stood on the podium but unfortunately I made a small mistake and crashed out. Conditions for the second race were worse and from having an awesome bike in race one, I had very little grip at all and the crash in race two came out of nowhere. It’s not how I wanted to end my time with PBM and Be Wiser Ducati but I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I can’t thank them enough. It’s arguably the best time in the paddock and they’ve been great since day one, so I wish them well for 2019.”

Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “It’s been a disappointing way to end the season but, on the plus side, it was nice for Glenn and the team to clinch third place overall. Obviously, you always want to win but third is a good result and a small bonus all things considered. It’s just a shame the day went the way it did after the race win yesterday but conditions were very difficult today and for Andrew to have a double DNF was a great pity. Both riders had a good Saturday but a poor Sunday but that’s the way racing goes sometimes so with a new project to look forward to in 2019, we’ll regroup and come back fighting.”

Final Championship Standings (after 12 rounds)
1 Haslam 699pts
2 Dixon 629
3 Glenn Irwin 588
4 Brookes 584
5 Hickman 577
6 Ray 551
17 Andrew Irwin 90