Glenn Irwin says return to winning ways at Oulton Park imperative to keep British Superbike title hopes alive

The Carrickfergus man has finished as the championship runner-up over the past two seasons, including missing out on becoming Northern Ireland’s first BSB champion last year by a mere half-a-point in a compelling title fight with his then team-mate Tommy Bridewell that went down to the wire in the final race.

Irwin is the sole rider in the Hager PBM Ducati team this season, with Bridewell joining Honda Racing UK to ride the Fireblade alongside his old rival’s younger brother Andrew.

With three rounds and extra points up for grabs in the Showdown phase of the championship, Ducati rider Irwin – third in the standings – is 60 points behind reigning champion Bridewell, who in turn has a slender 19-point advantage over OMG Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde.

The 34-year-old claimed three of his six victories in 2024 at Oulton Park in Cheshire in May, and a repeat would go some way to firing Irwin rider back into contention this weekend.

“We had success earlier in the year with a treble win but I’m aware enough to know that our rivals have all made improvements since then, so it certainly won’t be as easy,” said Irwin, who has won five of the last six races at Oulton.

“But Oulton, with the nature of the circuit, lends itself to suiting the Ducati and it has also undergone areas of resurfacing for this year, which obviously helps grip.

“Anywhere we have a new surface, like the full track at Donington, we can compete, and I feel we have improved the bike since we were last here.

“I feel we can fight more competitively here; there were areas at Cadwell where I felt really strong and there were areas where I lost out – and there will be parts of Oulton that will be like that – but let’s work on getting the most out of the Ducati and riding it correctly, and hopefully that puts us in the mix to fight for race wins.”

The 11-in-a-row North West 200 Superbike race winner has endured some bad luck this year, while grip issues with the harder compound rear Pirelli tyre have hampered Irwin at some circuits on the calendar.

“With the hard rear tyre you’ve less grip because it’s a more durable compound,” Irwin said.

“We’re all working hard and there’s not a whole lot we can change in the grand scheme of things.

“We’re further into the development of this model of the Ducati but what you can do is make hay when the sun shines, and there will be tracks that still suit the bike and Oulton is one of those; I’ve won five of the last six races here and been on the podium in 10 of the last 12.

“So we know the record the Ducati has at Oulton and we’re fighting to win the championship, so we need to come here and look at scoring victories; there’s no doubt about that – that’s the requirement and that’s what needs done.

“All it takes is for us to have a weekend like Oulton Park earlier in the year and a rival or two to have a tricky weekend – we’ve had our fair share of them.

“Then suddenly you can go from a task that is not in my hands and start to bring it into your hands, so we just have to focus on ourselves and try to win as many races as possible,” he added.

“I do believe the world works itself out and maybe other riders will have a bit of misfortune later in the year – we had ours in the middle of the season – so we now need to regroup and do the best job possible, which is now all that we really can do.

“We’re relying to an extent on a little bit of misfortune to bring us back into the championship.”