For the second meeting in a row, Glenn Irwin was outscored by the in-form Tommy Bridewell during Round 6 of the 2023 British Superbike Championship [BSB] at Brands Hatch, though remains his BeerMonster Ducati team-mate's closest rival at the head of the standings.

After playing it safe in a wet first race of the weekend en route to ninth, Irwin gathered momentum on Sunday to finish fourth in Race 2 following a gutsy fight back through the field from 14th on the grid.

Elevated further up the grid for Race 3, Irwin took the fight to team-mate Bridewell but would be forced to settle for second best to the Englishman.

“I felt good with the bike in the dry on Friday when we didn’t show our hand too much and have learnt a lot from Tommy and Snetterton in that aspect,” he said.

“He’s been doing a great job of late, so I adopted the same approach, working on our race pace and although we had a few issues in the wet in Saturday’s race, we were able to convert that pace into two good rides and results on Sunday.”

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“Coming through from 14^th to fourth in the first race was a good effort although the bike didn’t quite feel like mine, which was probably due to the rain having washed away all the rubber. "

"But the final race was really enjoyable and it’s good to show your pace here as it’s where the final round will be and where a lot of points will be on offer.”

“I felt I could have passed Tommy on more than one occasion and perhaps should have done so as the level’s so high now you have to take the chance when you get it.

"I’m happy with second though and fair play to Tommy and Ryan. It’s great to give the team another 1-2 as they really deserve it.”

Irwin's run to second in the final race of the weekend marks his tenth podium of the season, keeping himself Irwin within range of Bridewell at 34.5 points adrift.