Honda’s Nicky Hayden believes he has made a big step forward with the World Superbike Fireblade at Jerez and managed to put in the fourth fastest time - a 1’40.193 using Pirelli’s qualifier which was underneath Tom Sykes’ pole time at the track earlier this year.

Hayden has successfully made the transition from Bridgestone tyres and carbon brakes to Pirelli and steel items, and says that although the progress is good, he still has a lot of work to do.

The 34-year-old American evaluated new swingarms and tried different geometries, gearing, front fork and rear damper settings over the course of the test.

“We really must be thankful for the weather because, apart from temperatures a bit chilly in the morning, we had really great weather for three days; we needed it after missing so much time at MotorLand Aragon. We worked a lot in pretty much every area, because it’s still early days,” said Hayden.

“We tested a lot of things and the team worked extremely hard over the three days changing wheelbase, gearing and more. They did a huge amount of work. Overall we take some positives out of this test. I had great fun on the qualifying tyre today and I was told my time would have been enough to be on pole position here two months ago.

“It’s clear that everybody has made a big step forward already so we still have a lot of work to do. But I’m happy and looking forward to everything, let’s see if we can keep going this way.”