Image: Keith Muir.

The factory Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) is in the final stages of completing Dunlop tyre testing at a series of varied circuits in preparation for the 2017 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

Brisbane-based YRT initially held a pair of tests at the Queensland Raceway venue before travelling south to Winton Motor Raceway on Monday. It will now head to Phillip Island for further evaluations on Thursday.

Yamaha and Dunlop have utilised team regulars Wayne Maxwell and Glenn Allerton for the majority of the testing, however experienced international Broc Parkes was also on hand at the second Queensland outing. He won the 2013 FX-Superbikes crown with YRT and continues to have close ties with the squad.

“We’ve just performed the third test and we will have a fourth one, to assist Dunlop in developing their homologation tyres for 2017,” YRT owner John Redding told CycleOnline.com.au. “It’s no secret that we had Broc Parkes with us at the second Queensland test, because of his recent experience on other brands of tyres, so we could get some sort of relative feedback.”

With neither Maxwell or Allerton re-signed to YRT in the late stages of the silly season, the fact that they continue to carry out the development indicates they’re the favourites for the pair of factory YZF-R1M seats when the team scales back to two riders in 2017. Longtime fixture Cru Halliday has already departed the operation.

“I’m contracted though to the end of December and this is part of my job,” Maxwell commented when contacted this afternoon. “Obviously I want to be at Yamaha next year, that’s the goal, but we are yet to come to an arrangement, so until then this is what I will do and hopefully we can move forward into next year.”

With the title-winning Pirelli-equipped Honda squad benefiting from tyres direct from World Superbike, it’s understood a major part of the Dunlop development work is based around testing an assortment of tyres from the MotoAmerica series and also Moto2 World Championship in a bid to source the most suitable product for ASBK competition into the new year.