MV Agusta’s Leon Camier made another big step forward with setup at Monday’s Misano World Superbike test and was only six-tenths of a second slower than fastest man Tom Sykes - himself under lap record pace on race tyres.

The Andorra-based Brit put in well over a hundred laps at the Italian track and now believes that with a new engine spec and some more electronic work, he is in a position to close to gap to the Ducati and Kawasaki riders.

“The biggest difference for us is that we’ve actually been able to have a test and get some good chassis work done. It’s been the case for quite a while that we know where we’re losing and where we need to improve – just with setting and geometry changes, and we managed to get the changes done and make it work as well, so it was nothing but a positive for us,” said the former BSB champion.

“All day we were really quite strong, putting in consistently good lap times, and then at the end we made a change and went a good step faster as well. There was only one new part we changed but this with some other setting changes made the difference. The MV has made some big steps.

“There are a few areas where the other guys – especially Kawasaki and Ducati – have an advantage over us, but I think we’re improving. And where we’ve improved the chassis today I’m hoping that’s what we need just to make that last little step. Then if we can get some more power out of the bike I think we can make a big step straight away. Obviously then you have to control the power and the electronics need to be worked on, but I think with some time, more parts and another engine to come, we can make a good step.”