Silverstone BSB: Irwin ‘aggressive, consistent and full gas’ for the podium

Brother Glenn may have grabbed all the headlines at Silverstone at the weekend but Andrew Irwin came away from the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship with three top-six finishes under his belt, the highlight being third in the final encounter.

The Synetiq BMW rider was in fine form throughout the three days at the Northamptonshire venue and although eighth in qualifying didn’t show his true potential, the three races certainly did. “After a difficult season last year, if someone had offered me three top-six finishes at the beginning of this weekend, I’d have gladly taken them,” he admitted after standing on the podium in the final race. “The results have been a lot better than I thought but the team have done a great job in making me feel more comfortable on the bike both in testing and this weekend and we continued to make progress throughout the three days.” With a third, a fifth and a sixth to his name, he finished the weekend fourth overall in the championship and made a great start to his campaign after a difficult 2021 season. Indeed, 37 points from the weekend was a far cry from just the one he picked up at last year’s opening round. “We didn’t change an awful lot on the bike between the races and it was more about me being more aggressive but also more consistent at the same time,” he said. “We held our own all weekend and I managed to stay in the front group in each race but they were all tough.” “In the final race, I knew my teammate Danny (Buchan) was behind me but I braked as late as I could in the final few laps to keep him at bay. No-one was trying to save the tyre in the race and it was just full gas for 30 laps!”