Fan favourite Tommy Bridewell raced to seventh in yesterday’s second Bennetts British Superbike outing at Brands Hatch during his first weekend with the Moto Rapido team and maiden ride on the Panigale.

Bridewell had never raced a V-twin previously and despite an untimely get-off at the start of qualifying, the Devizes rider pulled off a useful debut for the squad with team boss Steve Moore actually putting a picture of himself smiling on social media. No, really…

“It was a sterling effort from the team. Obviously, crashing in qualifying and starting from the back in race one made it tricky but we got 12 and then from 15th up to seventh in race two,” said Bridewell.

“I’m over the moon and will sleep well now on the plane to Japan. Thanks to all my sponsors and fans who have stuck with me. We just need to keep pushing now and see if we can climb a bit higher.

"I came into the weekend, sat there before FP1, nervous, shaking, thinking how’s it going to go? Rolled out and had a smile on my face straight away with the bike. The bike has been phenomenal, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

"We obviously missed FP2 which we could have done with for sure because we made a change for Race 2 then which that we potentially could have found a bit earlier. Honestly, I don’t really know what to say. Ok, we’re 7th but I do feel like I’ve almost won the race, because we’ve come from dead last to up to 12th and then from 15th on the grid straight up to 7th, lapping really strong lap times the whole race.

"The bike didn’t miss a beat the whole race. Credit to the team and credit to everyone involved. Everyone around me. Stefano Carraci has made a big effort to come and see me this weekend, who’s a big name in Ducati and means a lot to me."