BSB Silverstone Qualifying Results | Irwin turns it around for pole at opener

Glenn Irwin will kick off the 2022 British Superbike Championship (BSB) from pole position after capitalising on added Q1 track time to clinch a comfortable pole position on the factory Honda at Silverstone.

Forced into the first knockout phase of qualifying after labouring in the mid-field during free practice, Irwin topped both Q1 and then Q2 with a benchmark lap time of 52.796s, aboard the 30th Anniversary liveried edition of the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade.

RICH OMG Racing pairing Kyle Ryde and Bradley Ray headed up the Yamaha challenge on the year-old ex-McAMS R1s, the duo joining Irwin in not venturing back on track in the closing two minutes of the session when a red flag for oil on circuit prompted a late scramble for a fast time.

However, with tyres past their best, the trio weren’t affected, leaving Tommy Bridewell at the head of row two on the best of the Ducati bikes, while Leon Haslam made a late improvement to leapfrog up to fifth on the VisionTrack Kawasaki.

Jason O’Halloran - the sole McAMS Yamaha entry this weekend - gets underway from sixth place, while Rory Skinner leads the FS-3 challenge in seventh, from BMW counterparts Andrew Irwin and Dan Linfoot.

Elsewhere, Christian Iddon starts 11th despite a tumble from the Buidlbase Suzuki, while BSB returnee Tom Sykes gets underway from 12th on the grid, out-qualifying his MCE Ducati team-mate Josh Brookes in 14th

2022 British Superbike Championship (BSB) | Silverstone | Qualifying