Honda’s Nicky Hayden believes the 2017 Honda Fireblade is a good starting point for a fully-fledged racebike and was able to match his 2016 race laptimes on day one of WorldSBK testing at Jerez.

The former MotoGP rider’s Ten Kate team have only had a couple of weeks with the new model, so haven’t been able to do anything like the development they need to ahead of the season opener next month but with time left to go, Hayden believes that all the work which needs to be done is achieveable.

“I pretty much matched the same lap time I did here at the race with race tyres so it's a starting point. Of course, I'd have loved to be doing 1m 40s but we didn't expect that. It just don't happen in racing,” Hayden said at the track.

“The engine at the moment, we're just happy to have an engine that's racy – let's say just not out of the street bike. They literally built the engine that would come here and last so of course there is some work to be done in a lot of areas.

“I don't want to sound like a complainer but the team has had the bikes two weeks so you can only do so much in two weeks as an independent team.”

Hayden is still not 100 per cent fit after knee surgery so that has also affected his performance in Spain.

“We chipped away at it and took a couple of chunks here and there. Also, my condition, I'm not 100 per cent. I wasn't able to maybe go at my maximum. Yeah, the gap looks really bad but we have to try and stay calm and realise what we're in for.

“You dream of showing up and getting a surprise and the bike is way better than you expected and way closer. It's been a long time since I've had that happen so I was prepared for a first day test like this.”