Glenn Irwin 'can't wait' for Superbike fix with PBM Ducati team as official British Superbike testing set to commence
British Superbike title hopeful Glenn Irwin can’t wait to kick-start his pre-season testing programme with the Hager PBM Ducati squad this weekend at Navarra in Spain.
Official BSB testing gets under way on Sunday and Monday as the countdown to round one of the 2025 championship at Oulton Park (May 3-5) begins in earnest.
Irwin, who finished third in the standings last year, said: “I can’t wait to get back on the Superbike. I had a little play about a month ago at Almeria with a V4S road bike supplied by Ducati Manchester – I was due to have four days on track but we got really unlucky with the rain and I got four sessions.
“But it was enough to light the fire and remind me how much I love riding the Superbike and now I can’t really think about anything else.
“For me, Navarra is more about getting back on the bike, getting the team back together; it’s not about being the fastest guy on the track, it’s about getting the whole team back on the pace and working together.”
One area Irwin and the PBM team will focus on in Spain is testing a new rear tyre after the Carrickfergus man experienced issues at certain circuits in 2024.
“We’ve got a new tyre this year, we’ve got a lower seat to test and a few new things to try so it’s about making a schedule, sticking to it and not getting caught up trying to go to the top of the timesheets,” added Irwin, who is the sole rider in the team.
“We’ll be concentrating on the things which need to be done, because the work we do here will pay off when the season begins.”
Irwin penned a new two-year deal until 2026 with the Cumbrian team, which is being run for the second season by Jordan and Frank Bird.
The former two-time BSB title runner-up and record 11-in-a-row North West 200 Superbike race winner announced his plans to retire from road racing last year and will concentrate solely on the British championship in 2025.
The 35-year-old is striving to become Northern Ireland’s first British Superbike champion and narrowly missed out on achieving his dream in 2023, when he lost out by a half-a-point to his then PBM Ducati team-mate Tommy Bridewell in a gripping title battle that went down to the final race at the last round at Brands Hatch.
His brother Andrew will also compete in BSB again this season with the Honda Racing UK team alongside Bridewell, while fellow Ulsterman Scott Swann makes the step up from Superstock 1000 for the first time and will ride a Honda Fireblade for IWR Racing sponsored by Send My Bag.