McAMS Yamaha's Josh Brookes got his first taste of the factory-backed R1 he will campaign in this year's Bennetts British Superbike series today at Cartagena and says it feels different from the bikes he rode in 2017 and 2015.

The Bringelly rider, who is sporting a circus strongman moustache, flew in England from Australia yesterday to sub-zero temperatures but was soon warming up in Spain.

"You sometimes feel like you have been off a bike for a long time but today I felt pretty normal with the speed, because often when you first ride after a long break, the power feels strong and the speed feels too fast. I didn’t really get that today; I was anticipating but it didn’t come, so that was good," said Brookes.

“The bike feels quite a lot different from what I had last year with the general feel of the bike because of the parts used have a different feel. So my 2015 Yamaha had a feel, last year’s bike was different from that and this year’s bike is different again. Often you only need to change a small components can change the way the bike feels, so I first had to get used to the way it feels but first impressions are good. We didn’t have to stop for anything, the bike ran fine, the power felt smooth and it was a very positive first outing.

“There are already a list of things I want to adjust and move to get comfy, things that are obvious and we can do quickly and we have four days so plenty of time to get up to speed and then refine areas logically rather than rush into it.”