Iddon retains 3rd in Championship despite a challenging weekend

The team had been served a bitter blow since the previous round as team owner and crew chief, Steve 'Wilf' Moore suffered a severe illness that would see the head of the team miss at least the teams home round of Thruxton.

Everyone in the team was keen to do a good job for the 'boss' but all were aware of the tough circumstances without him at the helm along with the additional challenges that Thruxton throws up for the Ducati bikes.

The start of the weekend was incredibly promising with Iddon progressing directly into Q2 but he was unable to put in a good lap in qualifying and started the first race from 15th.

From that difficult grid position, Christian was able to put on an incredible show getting all the way into the lead before he eventually ran out of tyre and dropped back into the pack but it was a huge confidence builder ready for Sunday.

With a new day came dramatically increased temperatures and it seems those temperatures caused a number of issues for the bike set up with Christian struggling all day to find any kind of grip.

Despite that he was able to salvage a strong 6th in the sprint race but was unable to fight off the pack in the final race of the weekend and crossed the line in 13th.

It had been a testing weekend without doubt but Christian and is Oxford Racing Ducati have retained 3rd in the overall standings and are looking to return to the podium at the next race.

After the weekend Iddon commented;
“We always knew this was going to be a tough round for us and it certainly lived up to that expectation but at the end of it all we have to keep our eye on the final target which is the top of the title and in that respect we didn't lose too much all things considered”
 
"The bike worked quite well from the first session and we worked really well through our plan which was awesome. When I put in the soft tyre I had a lot of speed which boded very well and each session and exit the team worked very well to improve the bike. Unfortunately we made an error in one of the technical aspects of the weekend and I was forced to qualify on the hard tyre which hampered our grid slot for the first race."

"In the first race I had a lot of pace and I felt I was able to move forwards without hurting the tyre. I got into the top 3 and eventually the lead but I had made a couple of attempts to pass (Kyle) Ryde out the back section and each time I knew I had burnt a match in terms of the tyre life but I wanted to be at the front to actually be able to conserve. That plan didn't go as I hoped and I ran out of tyre life with 5 laps to go and dropped down the order but it was pleasing to feel how good the bike was working and how much grip I had."
 
"I honestly am lost as to what happened on Sunday as all the feeling I had with the bike vanished. I was unable to find any grip with the bike and even struggled with the front which is the first time this year I've had that issue. In the sprint race we were able to cling on to a strong result with 6th but the final race was a real struggle and I had nothing."

"We need to regroup and move forwards to the next round now putting this behind us. We are still in a strong championship position so it's all to play for."

The next round of the championship is at Cadwell Park on the 24th to 26th August.