Josh Brookes insists he still has plenty to come this weekend as he looks to up his pace in the third Bennetts British Superbike round at Oulton Park.

The Australian powered his McAMS Yamaha to sixth in this morning’s first free practice before ending the day second overall, just 0.115s behind reigning champ Shane Byrne.

After a trying start to the season, Brookes feels he and the team have finally found the right direction to take to get him back up to where he expects to be.

But the former title-holder admits he still has work to do to find the best compromise between outright lap speed and race pace before Bank Holiday Monday’s two 18-lap races.

“My impression is that we still need to improve in both one-lap and race pace,” he told Bikesport News. “Even compared to times I’ve done here before… I’ve been a lot quicker.

“So the time is there, it’s just trying to get the bike in a range where I can get the best of both. I’ll improve in sectors one and two, then lose it somewhere more flowing.”

Brookes admitted at the last round that an unexpected change to the Pirelli tyres for 2018 put his and some other teams on the back foot to start the year, but he says he’s now confident in the direction he and the Yamaha squad are taking.

“Once we understood the tyre was different, we tried some more dramatic changes and we found something that’s starting to work. The tyres got grip again and I’m starting to fight with the lap times that the front guys are doing.

“We still don’t have the engine braking perfect. Corner entry is an area we’re working and the front forks still feel like maybe there’s not enough control, but that’s more of a comfort thing.

“I don’t feel like we’re a long way away. There’s definitely more room for improvement though.”