Oulton test times
Irwin blasts the paddock with his lap-record pace
Glenn Irwin heads to this weekend’s third round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship brimming with confidence after being the surprise package of Thursday’s official test session at Oulton Park.
The Ulsterman was 0.2 seconds inside Josh Brookes’ lap record to top the table after heading up all three superbike sessions in the one-day official test.
Irwin, who sits fourth in the championship after a solid start to the year, including a podium last time out at Brands Hatch, found an improved feeling from the new 2018-spec soft Pirelli rear tyre on his Be Wiser Ducati. Having previously tried the new rubber in pre-season testing, Irwin was relieved to find he had a similar experience this time out as the new tyre comes into play for the first time at Oulton Park this weekend.
“I’m really liking the new softer rear,” he said. “I liked it when we tried it at Monteblanco and it’s given me a good feeling here too. “We haven’t had a bad start to the year, but qualifying has let us down. We’ve had some good results but they’ve always been from lowly grid positions. “I’m quick enough to be on the podium, so without having to fight through the field from down the grid I should be able to race at the front.”
Irwin’s time placed him 0.297 seconds ahead of second-quickest Leon Haslam, who spent his time on track during the test trying to improve tyre life with the softer option rear.
Haslam chose the hard tyre in most 2017 races as he could not make a soft version last race distance. But he’s now losing too much time early in the race and is hoping to make the new soft tyre last longer.
“I feel like we’re in a good place,” he said. “I did three 18-lap runs on the soft tyre. Last year there’s no way we’d have made them last that long so we’ve made some improvements.
“Not being able to run the soft definitely cost us at a few places in 2017. Every race I’ve won at Oulton I’ve sat back on the hard tyre and taken advantage when those on the soft tyre drop back later in a race. Hopefully our improvements with the soft rear will mean we can still win.”
Reigning champion Shane Byrne set the third quickest time.