Tyco BMW rider Christian Iddon secured his first podium in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship since joining the Series in 2015, clinching third spot in both of the opening races of the year at Silverstone.

Iddon, from Stockport, made a statement of intent during qualifying, putting the Tyco BMW S1000RR on the front row of the grid, just two-tenths of a second off the pole time of Leon Haslam (Kawasaki) and ahead of the Ducati of former Moto GP rider, Shane Byrne.

Dropping as low as seventh, Iddon made hard work of claiming his first-ever BSB podium in race one, clawing his way back up the field, eventually nicking third spot on the final lap of the Silverstone GP circuit, from the Kawasaki of Luke Mossey.

Starting from seventh position for race two, Iddon soon started climbing the order.

The former World Superbike rider picking off places almost a lap at a time, he lay third with seven laps remaining.

Hanging on to the coat-tails of Byrne, Christian had a ‘look’ on several occasions to see if he could take second place from the four-time BSB champion.

Comfortable in third place, Iddon was a spectator as Peter Hickman (Kawasaki) claimed the win by just 0.099secs from Byrne, Christian just a second back down the road from the pair as they crossed the line.

Iddon said afterwards: “It was a really positive weekend, started out on the front row – which was amazing.

“Race one was difficult, but we finished up with a podium. Race two the bike felt much better.

“If we hadn’t had such a bad start then we would have been up the front a bit earlier.”

Iddon leaves Northamptonshire lying third in the championship behind Shane Byrne and team-mate Michael Laverty, who won race one.

The series next stop is Christian’s ‘home’ track, Oulton Park in Cheshire, over the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of April.