Glenn Irwin confirmed with Honda Racing for 2021 British Superbike Championship

The Carrick man finished fourth overall in the standings last year on the brand-new Fireblade after mounting a sustained assault on the title.

Irwin is joined in the team by Japanese rider Ryo Mizuno, who has been signed as part of a new project with Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - the Honda Superbike Challenge Program.

Joining forces with Honda’s head office in Japan, the programme will see Honda Racing UK’s participation in the British Superbike Championship 'sit within Honda’s global racing activities from MotoGP, World Superbike and the All-Japan Championship'.

Irwin said: "I’m really happy to continue with Honda Racing and to carry on the development of the new Fireblade. 2020 was a really refreshing year that perhaps brought success earlier than I anticipated.

"For 2021 we have extensive development to go through which for sure will improve our package further. That said, there won’t be any room for complacency which I have experienced before, so we won’t be making bold predictions from a results perspective.

"As a team we know from the work carried out over the winter, we have a strong base to continue developing the Fireblade," he added.

"Working with Ryo is exciting in itself, with Ryo coming from a completely different racing background. I am excited to see how his feedback improves us.”

Irwin claimed a race win at Snetterton and finished second on five occasions as the four-time North West 200 winner enjoyed a welcome revival following a turbulent year in 2019.

The 30-year-old will line up as one of the title favourites following his performances last season, and his rivals will include younger brother Andrew, who left Honda to ride for Northern Ireland’s SYNETIQ BMW team on the all-new M1000RR.

In addition to a two-man team in the Superbike class, Tom Neave will continue in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship, altough rising road racing prospect Davey Todd has not been retained for 2021.

On Thursday, it was confirmed that the start of this year’s British Superbike Championship had been pushed back to the late May bank holiday weekend (29-31). The season-opener was provisionally scheduled to run at Oulton during the first weekend in May.

BSB tests are currently pencilled in at Donington Park (April 13), Silverstone (April 28-29 TBC), Snetterton (May 11-13) and Oulton (May 19).

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