Christian Iddon doubled his podium count for the season at Donington Park at the weekend with the Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider taking second and third on Sunday to keep himself in with a mathematical chance of winning this year’s British Superbike Championship.

That chance might be incredibly slim given he’s 104pts behind championship leader Tommy Bridewell with 105pts on offer at the final round at Brands Hatch but he’ll certainly have a say in the destination of this year’s title as he goes in search of his first win of 2023.

Eleventh in qualifying, Iddon ran off track in Saturday’s Sprint race, just missing out on the points as he fought his way back up 16^th, but with a second row start for Sunday’s opening race, he took full advantage of his advanced starting position.

Running in the leading group from the off, third was the outcome behind Kyle Ryde and Leon Haslam as he took his first podium since Brands in mid-July.

“It was a really good, fun race and whilst in the dry, the pace is normally what it is, conditions meant it was changing every lap and, because of that, positions kept changing,” he said.

“It was an interesting race and although I dropped back a bit when I got the back shift wrong going into Redgate, which allowed Lee Bob (Jackson) through, I was able to get back ahead. The rain came on again towards the end, but the grip was good, and I was happy to be back on the podium.”

With worse conditions for the final race of the weekend, Iddon – third and fourth overall in the championship in 2020 and 2021 respectively when riding for PBM Ducati – moved into the top three on lap three behind runaway leader Jason O’Halloran and Leon Haslam and here he remained until the race was red flagged on lap 16 when Haslam’s BMW expired. It promoted Iddon to second for his fourth podium of the season.

“Podiums have been hard to come by this season and it was just a nice race. It was the first time I was apprehensive at the start the race because it my first time on full wets all weekend, so I didn’t know what to expect.

"I was willing to risk it as I’d nothing to lose but straightaway I found my feet with the bike. It was really good, and the new tarmac is fantastic compared to what we've had previously.”

“I had a few visibility issues and had quite a bit of fogging so with all the spray and water, it was difficult for me to ride so I dropped back a bit before having a another go at Leon. The minute I dropped back though he bolted and then I got a bit throttle happy and started to ride not that great so I calmed myself down a bit.”

“Josh (Brookes) was nibbling away behind me, and I wanted a nice steady run to the line. Third became second and I felt a bit sorry for Leon as it was a shame for him to have that mechanical and whilst I wanted to win that one for the Rouse family, I’m happy with a double podium.”