Stockport rider Christian Iddon is upbeat following the UK race debut of his Tyco BMW S1000RR despite limited testing ahead of the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone.

Iddon ran well throughout free practice and qualifying, as high as fifth of the 32 riders around the Northants venue’s short ‘National’ circuit.

The former World Superbike rider made it through to the third and final round of qualifying, setting the eighth fastest time, just a touch over half-a-second off the pole position, putting him on the third row of the grid for race one.

Race one saw Iddon run as high as sixth but a technical issue during the race saw him eventually cross the line 11th, once again setting eighth fastest for the race two grid.

A race two tussle with Luke Mossey saw Iddon lose places into Copse.

Running as high as fifth place, a missed gear on lap eight at the entrance to Brooklands saw him run wide, working hard to keep the bike upright as he ran across the gravel, and managing to bring his bike back on track, albeit in 28th position.

A hard-fought 18th position was all that could be claimed from the incredibly competitive field.

Speaking to Tyco BMW, Iddon said: “The weekend started really positively, we were fast almost immediately.

“I have felt good all weekend, I was never outside the top eight any of the sessions so that was really good, I just never made it count in the races.

“We are leaving the first round with a few points on the board and looking forward to the Oulton test ahead of round two.”

The team now moves on to Oulton Park in Cheshire for an official BSB test ahead of the next round there on the May 4-6.