Tommy Bridewell aiming to “thrive” on WorldSBK “tough challenge”

Tommy Bridewell is “under no illusion” about the size of the challenge that he is facing this year as he prepares for his first WorldSBK round as a full-time rider in the series, but hopes to "thrive" on it.

Bridewell has wildcarded and filled in for injured riders on multiple occasions in the past, including getting a replacement ride at Aragon last year with Honda when Iker Lecuona was injured.

But this will be his first season as a full-time rider in World Superbike, although he and the Superbike Advocates team missed the opener in Australia last month.

“I’m feeling great, I’m very optimistic and excited for this opportunity,” said Bridewell ahead of his first race this weekend (27–29 March) in Portugal.

“It was a bit of a pipe dream a while ago; at a test here a while ago I said to the guys that we should do WorldSBK and we haven’t looked back since.

“Sadly, we missed Australia and we only had about 10 dry laps on the bike, and I’m under no illusion that it won’t be a tough challenge.

“But in my career, I’ve always gravitated towards challenges and, for some reason, it’s what I beeline to and thrive off of.”

Bridewell added compliments for the Superbike Advocates Ducati, although like most BSB riders he feels he has margin to improve in terms of setting up the electronics.

“I don’t want to sound cliche, but I’ve never ridden a bike like our Ducati Panigale V4 R,” he said.

“I’ve ridden a lot of bikes in my career, but I thought ‘Wow, this is good’. 

“Its electronics are where the advantage is, and that’s where I need to work. 

“I felt good on the bike from the very start. 

“It’s an open book with Ducati; you're given a laptop with essentially all the data on other riders. We saw the data compared to Nicolo [Bulega], where I was stronger, and where he was stronger. 

“It makes our lives a lot easier; we’re not out on our own. 

“There are eight other teams whose data we can look at. At the moment we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, so we are shooting for a good weekend. 

“I am here to do well in the championship, and that’s what I’m expecting for myself. I want to see a clear progression this season.”