Motorpoint British Supersport Championship front runner Glenn Irwin made his real road racing debut on Wednesday with the Northern Ireland rider making a major impression first time out in qualifying for the Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix.

Riding the VRS Racing Kawasaki, Irwin placed third in qualifying for today's first Lightweight race with a lap of 115.682mph only bettered by UGP race winners Keith Amor and Ivan Lintin and only handful of seconds outside the class lap record.

"The buzz you get from racing on the roads is unreal, that's for sure - and you still get a buzz on the in-lap!! The first session yesterday was wet and the whole bike was weaving but unbeknown to me, the rear tyre had gone flat - I just thought that's how road racing is,” said the 24-year-old, speaking to bikesportnews.com this morning.

"I went back out in the dry and Keith Amor towed me around for a couple of laps, which was really good of him but I did my fast lap on my own and the lap time was way beyond my expectations. The circuit's really smooth but I'm just taking it steady and will see how we go. My dad's taken me round the circuit a few times as has William Dunlop so we're getting there."