HONDA Racing’s Dan Linfoot says he made a breakthrough with his Fireblade at Brands Hatch this morning, and believes some of the improvement has come from his recent Suzuka test.

The Yorkshireman will start tomorrow’s first MCE British Superbike race from the front row after setting the third fastest time on a drying track late this afternoon.

Fresh from his first test at the Japanese track ahead of his Suzuka Eight-Hours debut, Linfoot has been feeding some of the information gleaned during his time with his Moriwaki Motul Honda team.

“I’ve just been trying to give them the information really,” he said. “I rode a bike in  Suzuka last week that I had a nice feeling with, so I was able to give them a little bit information from that.

“I am getting on top of it more now, it’s just a difficult beast to ride, a bit more power, a bit more aggressive and I seem to offset that a little bit with the way I ride.

“I made a bit of a breakthrough this morning with the bike and how I attacked it as well, so let’s see how that can shape up tomorrow. We need a genuine dry result  before I can really smile.”