Glenn Irwin seals maiden BSB qualifying pole at Brands Hatch

Glenn Irwin claimed his maiden qualifying pole position in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch on Saturday.
Be Wiser PBM Ducati rider Glenn Irwin.Be Wiser PBM Ducati rider Glenn Irwin.
Be Wiser PBM Ducati rider Glenn Irwin.

The Be Wiser PBM Ducati rider sealed the top spot at the Kent track by 0.081s from Josh Brookes (McAMS Yamaha), with Jake Dixon third fastest on the RAF Reserves Kawasaki.

Irwin, who is currently fourth in the championship going into Sunday’s fifth round, dedicated his BSB pole to the memory of road racers William Dunlop, James Cowton, Dan Kneen and Adam Lyons.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 28-year-old is seeking his first victory of the season at the Brands Grand Prix circuit, where race one is scheduled for 13:30 BST on Sunday.

Irwin said: "I’m really, really happy to take pole position and we’ve had a good strategy all weekend although the changes we made for FP3 didn’t work for me in the way that we thought they would.

"We went back to what we had in FP1 for qualifying although there were still two areas where I know I needed to improve and fair play to Johnny (Mowatt), Ryan (Rainey) and Phil (Borley) on my side of the garage as they gave me a bike that was faultless for Q3.

"I’m over the moon to get pole position so I feel we’re in a good place ahead of the two races.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

His younger brother and PBM Ducati team-mate Andrew qualified in eighth place after progressing to Q3 for the first time, although a crash at Paddock Hill Bend stifled his progress.

Toome’s Michael Laverty was 13th fastest on the Tyco BMW and will line up on the fifth row for race one.

Championship leader Leon Haslam qualified in fifth on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki.

Related topics: