Outgoing Ducati rider Glenn Irwin says today’s high winds limited his pace, despite finishing on top this afternoon.

The Be Wiser man finished this morning’s session in fourth after clocking just three flying laps, but proceeded to hold off title contender Jake Dixon in free practice two by just 0.007s after trying to push his pace on both the SC0 and SC1 tyre compounds.

But Irwin admitted that the wind was nearly too much to deal with and says if they can avoid the blustery conditions on track tomorrow, spectators could be on to see a new lap record.

“It’s good to be P1 but we lost a lot of time in that first session, 39 minutes or something,” he told Bikesport News. “I only got an out lap plus three more – the others were when I was pushing the bike in. 

“We went quite quick on the SC1 and didn’t go much faster on the zero. Our SC1 pace is really good when you see what everyone else has done, which is unusual for the Ducati but something we fixed at Assen. 

“I would have liked to go a bit faster on the SC0, but the wind was chaotic. It was borderline on the limit of where you couldn’t have raced in it. 

“I was maybe six tenths off what I qualified with in the middle of the year. If we lose the wind tomorrow and fine tune our bikes we’re going to see some super fast laps.”

Irwin also says that he won’t be getting involved in the championship battle and believes it’s unrealistic to see anyone getting involved in it, short of running either of the title fighters off track. 

“We’re all going to be racing hard tomorrow, but really to be involved in this title scrap you’d have to doze Haslam off the track in all three races. 

“I don’t dislike Leon, I get on well with him and it’s the team I’m joining next year, and I like Jake too. I’ll be racing to win every race, but I’ll not be dozing anyone off. I could lose my contract pretty quick.”