Image: Keith Muir.

Yamaha Racing Team with Yamaha Motorcycle Insurance’s current Australasian Superbike Champion Wayne Maxwell left Sydney Motorsport Park’s 2015 season-opener satisfied with third overall on Sunday on debut with the YZF-R1M.

Maxwell, 32, fought hard with teammate Cru Halliday for the final overall podium position in the pair of 15-lap races, claiming 4-3 finishes to open his championship account in a promising performance with his third different team in three years.

The R1M displayed huge potential in terms of outright lap time across the weekend, however further mileage will be pivotal in helping to dislodge the dominant Team Honda Racing outfit from the top of the results sheets on race day.

“I said to the guys after testing that if we could get out of there with a top five result then I’d be really happy,” Maxwell told CycleOnline.com.au. “The lap times were competitive and everything else was okay, but we’re just a tiny bit away from where I’d hoped with consistency.

“The problem is we don’t have any knowledge or experience with the new R1M yet, so everything was such an experiment. When you have seven years of data with a motorbike then it’s easy to identify when you’ve got a problem, so for us on the weekend, sometimes we got it right and sometimes we got it wrong.

“We definitely got it right on the Friday when the conditions were favourable to us, but as it heated up on the weekend we struggled for a little bit of grip over the longer duration. We’ve just got to work away at that and we’ll only get better from here.”

With a two-day test at Mallala scheduled before the South Australian venue hosts round two of the series in May, Maxwell is confident the team can make immediate inroads that will benefit them in upcoming rounds. And with that, he is certain the decision to depart Honda for YRT was the right one.

“I’m more than happy with my decision to go to Yamaha,” he added. “Like any racer I want to improve faster than we usually can with the resources and support we have, but it’s only a matter of time before we make the next step and hopefully the test at Mallala is enough to get us there. If it’s not then I’m sure the boys will do their best to ensure the bike’s better and better.”

Maxwell was ultimately top of the YRT with YMI riders in Sydney, trailed closely by Halliday – tied on points – and Glenn Allerton completing the top five overall.