Glenn Irwin fires warning to British Superbike title rivals ahead of opening round at Navarra in Spain

The Hager PBM Racing Ducati rider has set himself a target of picking up where he left off at the end of last season, when Irwin won the final race of 2023 at Brands Hatch but missed out on the title by half-a-point to his then team-mate Tommy Bridewell.

Carrick man Irwin is the sole rider in the PBM team this year after Bridewell joined Honda Racing UK and the Ulsterman is fired up to go one better and become Northern Ireland’s first BSB champion.

Irwin, second fastest in the final test at Navarra behind OMG Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde, said: “They say you’re as good as your last race and I won that at Brands Hatch last year so I’m feeling confident.

“I must praise the team for doing a tremendous job to get to where we are today, everyone is working so hard and I’m proud to be a part of this.

“We’ve had a huge programme to get through in testing so it’s been busy but at the same time we’re proved we are competitive.

“We know how strong the opposition is but I feel as if we can challenge for the victories this weekend as we’ve done a lot of hard work. Roll on this year’s championship.”

Honda Racing’s Andrew Irwin will also be looking to make his mark after missing most of last season following a crash in testing, while Alastair Seeley returns to the Supersport class on a Binch Racing Yamaha R6.

Qualifying at the Spanish track takes place on Saturday with two races on Sunday at 12:50 BST and 16:30 BST.