Glenn Irwin upbeat after “half a chance” at Donington victory

Glenn Irwin was upbeat after the final race of the day at Donington Park, where after two lunges for the win the Ducati rider had to settle for second, his best result of the BSB weekend.

Overnight small tweaks had been made to his PBM bike, allowing the #2 more control, and becoming the rider closest to taking a victory away from triple winner Ray:

“It was a good race, the guys had done a great job coming into today with giving me some tyre life and a better feeling with the bike, I could ride it, kind of how I wanted to ride it, and also I could be strong over distance.

• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (2)
• 2025 British Superbikes: Donington Park - Race Results (3)

The race kind of went as planned, to an extent, I was quite happy to sit with Rory, I could see he was trying to save his tyre - he was using a little bit more than me in the race but he was also doing a good job on a pace I was happy to sit at.”

Ray gapping the duo was the catalyst for Irwin to make his move, putting on a great show as he chased Ray down over the closing laps. Irwin expalined:

“I could see Brad was pulling away but at the same time I had faith I could catch, so passed Rory at what was probably the right moment, because we did then bridge that gap. To reel in someone of Brad’s level is really, really good for our confidence.

And to have the tyre, even particularly in the last couple of laps when the tyre dropped, to be able to do a lap record is something I take a lot of confidence with.”

Once on Ray, Irwin had two attempts to pass, the first around the Esses saw him sit up and lose half a second and needing to give chase all over again. Undeterred Irwin went for it and had one final slim chance, which he went for, but it was not to be:

“In terms of opportunities to win the race, I probably had half a chance into the chicane with three to go, I thought we’ll just wait, maybe and have a go another lap - I kind of got caught out a bit as Brad braked a bit earlier than what I thought - hindsight maybe should have went.

0.9 gap to bridge with two laps to go, to be able to get back - I thought I’d done enough around coppice on the last lap - it’s so hard to match the Yamaha in this area of the track, I picked the bike up, done probably everything that I needed to do - maybe got it too good and got on the gas too hard -  and I just created a little bit of spin - in saying that, he’s riding incredible.”

Oulton Park saw two big comeback rides from the Northern Irish rider, while Donington has been characterised with some equally gritty fight for position. Irwin has been happy with his performance so far and with the points difference in the race not too huge at the start of the season, the long game is important to Irwin as he edges closer to Ray’s performance:

“I think we’ve showed in the first two rounds that we don’t lie down, certainly not, we are racking up better results when we’re having a bit of adversity thrown at us, which is important. In terms of two points here and there at the minute, I’m quite chill with that. We just keep growing and improving the package for sure the wins will come."