The Penrith-based Be Wiser Ducati team ended their 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship campaign at Brands Hatch with Glenn Irwin ensuring it was a successful conclusion to the season as he clinched third place overall in the final championship standings.

After his superb win in Saturday’s opening race, the 28-year-old, from Carrickfergus, lined up in third place on the front row for the 20-lap race where the sunshine of the previous day had been replaced by damp and dismal conditions.

However, although he completed the first lap in seventh place on the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R, he soon found himself slipping down the order and at one stage he was as low as 12th. The Ulsterman soon regrouped, however, and was rewarded for his efforts with a solid seventh at the chequered flag.

The result saw him line up in 12th place on the fourth row for the final race of the season, held in heavy rain but a poor start left him with plenty of work to do. A chassis change to the machine didn’t work either, resulting in him being down in 17th in the early stages, although he was up to 15th but pulled in to retire just before half race distance.

Despite Sunday not going to plan, his race win on Saturday was ultimately enough for him to clinch third place overall in the series, his best result in the three years of contesting the championship.

Younger brother and team-mate Andrew, meanwhile, started the day’s first race around the 2.43-mile GP circuit from second place, alongside Glenn on the front row, and was challenging for a podium when his hopes were dashed as he crashed at Graham Hill Bend on lap two, bringing his race to an early and abrupt end.

It meant he had to start the second race from the fifth row of the grid, but a good start saw him move up to tenth at the completion of the first lap which was where he remained until half race distance when he was pushed back to 11th. He retook tenth on lap 12 but, unfortunately, crashed out for the second time when he fell on the penultimate lap.

Despite the unhappy end to his season, the 24-year-old finished in 17th overall after only contesting two thirds of the season.

Glenn Irwin said: "After yesterday’s [Saturday’s] race win, it’s disappointing to end my term with PBM and Be Wiser Ducati with only a seventh place finish to show for my efforts and it was especially frustrating as we’d made a chassis change which, unfortunately, didn’t work out in the way that we’d hoped.

"The positive is that the race win on Saturday gave me enough of a buffer to clinch third place overall, something which I’m over the moon with.

"Retiring from my final race with PBM was a real shame but a massive thank you to them for everything they’ve done for me over the last three years."