Stuart Easton has completed his first day’s testing on the Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati at Cadwell Park and was immediately comfortable on the Panigale, putting in a total of 76 laps at the Lincolnshire track.

Easton signed for the team over the weekend and today was his first sight of the bike. After doing the usual stuff like moving pegs and bars, the Hawick ace got into some laps and was able to start making setup changes.

“It was a really good and productive first day, everyone, in the team is smiling, I am smiling. It is a really different bike from the last Ducati I rode, which was in World Supersport for Carachi, but it’s still a Ducati and a lot of the similarities are there, including how high the thing revs,” said Easton, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

“We improved after every exit, did 76 laps in total and even put 36 on one set of tyres. We have got to a stage even on day one where I feel comfortable enough to start making setup changes and that can only bode well for tomorrow.

“To be honest it just got better and better all day. We had to start by doing things like changing the bars and pegs because I am shorter, and a few other tweaks to get comfortable, and we got to a pace where changes made a difference, which is a result on day one.”