Glenn Irwin’s 2020 season in British Superbike was, all in all, a positive one. The rider from Carrickfergus finished the season in fourth place, scoring excellent results aboard the new Honda CBR1000RR-R of Honda Racing UK, despite some complicated weekends like those of Oulton Park and Donington.

One of the Northern Irishman’s main rivals, as well as his team-mate, was younger brother Andrew, a talented rider who raced for the second consecutive season with Havier Beltran’s team. But the 26-year old has decided to make a change and move to BMW in 2021, with the team Synetiq by Tas Racing.

"My brother is very ambitious"

In a recent interview for the BBC, Glenn had good things to say about his younger brother: “Andrew is younger than me and very ambitious. That fact I finished in front of him this year surprised me and now he’ll compete with another bike, I know he’ll be one of my toughest rivals in the battle for the win. Our relationship is fantastic though and, as well as being brothers, we are friends first and foremost”.

He also touched on the fact that the TT has now been cancelled: "It’s truly a pity to not be able to take part in the TT. It’s two years that I’ve been wanting to race the Mountain as a newcomer, but now I have to wait longer. Staying with Honda definitely has me feeling optimistic, considering its success on both track and road”.

Translated by Heather Watson

Road Races: the Southern 100 organisers remain optimistic