Top six finishes for Hayfield racer Christian Iddon as British Superbikes returns with Spanish start

For the first time in its history, the series opened its year abroad at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain.

And in front of a good travelling BSB crowd, bolstered by some enthusiastic locals, Christian powered his Oxford racing Moto Rapido Ducati to two top six finishes.

With a few days of testing at the circuit before the race, Iddon and his Oxford racing Moto Rapido squad were clearly feeling confident after finding a good set up on the Ducati V4R.

Christian progressed directly through the first qualifying and straight into Superpole in which he placed 1pth ahead of the first race.

After a strong start and moving through the pack, Christian crossed the line for the first race of the season in sixth and went one better with a much stronger performance in the second race for fifth.

“This has been a great way to start our Championship challenge,” he said.

“After all the difficulties of 2023, the team have put in an enormous amount of effort over winter and my bike is transformed into something that I truly believe is capable of winning the championship.

“My one lap pace hasn't been particularly fast this weekend but we have been able to maintain a good rhythm and each session the team improved the bike.

“I'm not sure if it was the increased track temperature or something else, but for some reason I was just missing a little bit of feeling with my bike compared to the test and that is really my only disappointment.

“Still, I think we can be very content with our job this weekend and it sets us up very nicely indeed for the rest of the year.”

The next round of the Championship will be held at Oulton Park on the 4th-6th May.