Peter Hickman ended the opening day of Donington WorldSBK practice less than a second off the pace after being drafted into the works BMW team with only a day's notice.

The Smiths BMW British Superbike star and TT lap record holder got to grips with the WorldSBK-spec S1000RR quickly but is having to get used to full electronics.

The Lincolnshire rider will have to contend with using Pirelli's qualifying tyre this morning to try and bag a decent grid slot.

"I’m happy enough with today. It’s all new however the bike feels fairly similar to what I’m running in BSB. We have a lot more adjustability on this bike along with the electronics so it’s a lot different in some areas," said Hickman.

I’m really happy to get into the 1’28s, it’s the fastest I’ve been around here with a 1’28.567, so half a second faster and I’m looking towards the top six, so I’ve got to be happy with the progress on day one.

"Tomorrow's a different day, I’ve not rode on the ‘Q’ tyre in a long time as we don’t run that in BSB so that’s going to be interesting, I don’t have an aim as such but I’m just going to keep chipping away and let’s see how our lap time goes and where we end up in the race."