Donington BSB “not as I’d hoped” for Christian Iddon: “Something doesn’t click here”

Christian Iddon says he entered the Donington BSB “excited” by progress he felt he and the FS-3 Kawasaki team had made since the start of the season, but found it “wasn’t as I’d hoped” right from the beginning of the weekend.

The September Donington round was the first of the 2025 BSB season that saw the series returning to a track for the second time, so for Iddon it theoretically presented a decent chance to measure his progression over the course of his first eight rounds with the FS-3 team and aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

“Coming back to the same track, I was really excited because I think we’ve made big strides,” Iddon told Crash.net after race 4 at Donington.

“But, from the first practice session, it wasn’t as I’d hoped.

“It was probably more of a disappointment because my expectation was so high. So, maybe if my expectation wasn’t as high as it was, it wouldn’t have been that disappointing of a session, so I kind of had to reset after it.”

Iddon explained that the combination of himself, the Kawasaki, and Donington is one that does not properly mesh, especially when fighting in a group.

“I don’t know why, something just doesn’t click here with my style and this bike and this track; I struggle to get the most out of it,” he said.

“When I can ride on my own and ride free, I could chip away and get faster, but as soon as I’m in a group environment it’s like we’re fast in the wrong places.

“The last race today was absolutely awful. I would’ve finished further up if I didn’t try to move forwards, but every time I tried to make a move I just lost more places.

“That’s on me, it’s not an excuse, but the better racecraft would’ve been to sit there and ride around, but that’s not the racer in me.

“So, I had to try and make moves, I felt like I was getting held up a little bit – not massively but I just felt like I had more pace than those one or two in front. But I ended up going backwards and that never sits well with me.

“So, to go from sixth to ninth and, not only that, I got a good start so I was up to third at the start. I lost a lot of places.”

Iddon added that, overall, he’s pleased with how the season has gone, but that he is frustrated by running into repetitive limitations.

“The season on a whole has been really good, [...] if you look at the big picture it’s been good,” he said.

“We’re fifth in the championship at the moment which is strong, I’d say, in front of some very talented riders on very good bikes. So, that, on the whole, has been good.

“There’s certain frustrations that we have and as soon as you’re in a battle it becomes difficult; as soon as I have to defend or fight forwards then it all seems to go to pot.

“The same thing happened at Cadwell.

“It’s just frustrating.

“The team’s fantastic, the team’s doing an amazing job. I do think we’re getting more or less the maximum out [of the bike].

“The last two rounds [Cadwell Park and Donington Park] I don’t think we’ve nailed the setup, or the feeling, shall we say, because maybe the setup was right but it wasn’t right for me.”