JG Speedfit Kawasaki newboy Leon Haslam ended the two-day Jerez test happy with his outright laptime and pace on used tyres while helping team-mates James Ellison and Peter Hickman work on setup of their ZX-10Rs.

The trio have been switching bikes all day to give differing opinions and evaluations on the 2016-spec bike while Haslam also worked on his 2015-spec bike which will change to the 2016 spec for the Cartagena test in March. Haslam’s mission at Jerez was simply to get used to riding without electronics and see where he was in terms of pace and he will do the same at Aragon next week.

“There have been a lot of teething problems but today I got to ride both James’ and Peter’s bikes, which have 2016 parts. We made a big step forward on the engine braking side, which is something we haven’t concentrated on with our bike on the 2015 stuff. They still have to work more on the throttle connection whereas mine is still on the cable so a one to one ratio and I like it,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“I have worked on the chassis with my bike, we are good on a used tyre and I improved by more than a second yesterday. I got to a 1’41.9 but I was still doing 1’42.2 after 15 laps so I am happy with that. I didn’t expect that time to come and we are still find our way. The potential is big, is still very early and we haven’t got all the parts. If I can have my throttle delivery with the 2016 engine braking then we will make another big step.

“The engine is still raw and we need a nicer power curve. We will keep the same engine spec and electronics for Aragon, just spend two more days working on it and then for the March test, we will move on to the 2016 stuff. It’s been more about gathering data and everyone trying each other’s bike. You can easily get stuck riding one bike so it has been good.”