'Ducati suits my style best' - Irwin on 2026 manufacturer switch

Glenn Irwin has won a record 11 Superbike races at the North West 200

Glenn Irwin has expressed his delight at the news that his Nitrous Competitions Racing team will switch from Yamaha to Ducati machinery for the 2026 British Superbike season.

It was revealed on Friday that the English outfit would campaign bikes produced by the Italian manufacturer, with Kyle Ryde continuing as Irwin's teammate.

The Northern Ireland rider began the 2025 season strongly, before he suffered a major injury setback and subsequently parted ways with the PBM Ducati team.

"I've spent a lot of my career on Ducatis and it has always been successful. There has never been a year where I've felt I didn't gel with the bike," Irwin told BBC Sport NI's Stephen Watson.

"Riders have their own riding style that they always work on or amend and the Ducati suits my natural style best.

"I know there are areas where it needs to improve and I need to improve but we have great plans ahead to spend a pre-season in Spain.

"I always strive to be the best version of myself, I think I showed that in 2024 and 2024 and this year I showed glimpses of that again.

"At Donington Park this year we were doing World Superbike times [on the PBM Ducati] so we will be back much stronger. For my own peace of mind to be back with Ducati is like returning to your family. I have a lot of love for the brand."

'Best ride since I got injured'

Irwin has reflected on his "best ride since he got injured" after he grabbed a sixth position in the third and final race of the penultimate British Superbike round of the season at Oulton Park on Sunday.

Irwin failed to finish the opening event of the weekend on Saturday and was 12th in the sprint race, before improving to collect a top-six berth in the final race.

The 35-year-old secured four podiums from five races in the opening two meetings of the 2025 championship but suffered a major setback in June when he sustained fractures to his hip socket and pelvis as a result of a practice crash at Snetterton and had surgery on his sacrum (pelvic region) as part of his treatment.

Twice a runner-up in the series, Irwin then split with the PBM team to ride a Yamaha for Nitrous Competitions Racing, making his debut for the team at Thruxton in August and claiming a best finish of sixth at Donington, then repeating that result at Oulton at the weekend.

"It's only a sixth position but we were just 2.5 seconds off the win. It's my best ride since I've been injured," said Irwin on social media.

"This job is so tough when you're a rider, when you lose form, whether it be through a change of team or manufacturer or through injury, or any reason.

"It feels so good to be competitive, to be riding with the best guys, because the class is stacked. To fight with the best people and to go forward, this job means so much to me and there's so much more to come."

Oulton results and Andrew Irwin ruled out

Josh Brookes claimed victory in race one at the Cheshire circuit at the weekend, ahead of Leon Haslam and Ryde.

Ray won race two from Haslam, Christian Iddon and Ryde, with Scott Redding taking the chequered flag in race three, with Ray and Haslam competing the rostrum places.

Defending champion Ryde goes into the final round at the Brands Hatch GP circuit from 17-19 October with a 30-point advantage over fellow Yamaha rider Ray at the top of the standings.

Irwin sits 14th on 136 points after his injury-blighted season.

Meanwhile Glenn's brother Andrew is recovering from a significant elbow injury sustained in a crash at the Donington Park round, which required surgery.

After missing the Assen round of the series, his Honda Racing team indicated that the 31-year-old would also sit out last weekend's meeting at Oulton and the concluding round at Brands.

Five-time Isle of Man TT winner Dean Harrison is sitting in for the injured rider as teammate to Tommy Bridewell in the team after moving up from the Supersport class.

Andrew had hit a rich vein of form before suffering his injury setback, accumulating seven top-six finishes in eight races, including a second place and two third positions at the Cadwell Park Bank Holiday round.