Leon Camier was quickest on the first official test day at the Island.

Suzuki’s big hope Leon Camier has set the fastest time on day one of an official pre-season test at Phillip Island ahead of the season-opening round this weekend, 22-24 February.

The 25-year-old from Ashford in England resumed where he left off in a private test at Phillip Island last week, and set a best time of 1:31.243s, well under the existing lap record of 1:31.785 and within reach of the fastest ever WSBK lap around the 4.445km circuit, a 1:30.882.

“We needed to change some stuff after the bike had been re-built, so this morning was there no big hurry to push from the start,” Camier commented. “We changed the bike a bit in the lunch break, because unfortunately it didn’t quite feel the same as it did before I smashed it up last week!

“The feeling came back and we also had to change quite a bit because of the heat, I did the same lap-time in the cooler conditions last week as I did in the heat today, so I think we did a pretty good job. It’s very close at the top, so it doesn’t really count for anything, because the race will be difficult and the other guys have got some time to perfect what they’ve got.

“We are in quite good shape at the moment, but we know there is still a lot to do for the rest of this week.”

Eight other riders also recorded times in the 1:31 bracket, and the gap between the top 12 fastest bikes was less than a second, with Australian wildcard Jamie Stauffer sneaking his Honda into the mix.

With plenty of track time available for riders to really get into the groove on the resurfaced track, behind Camier came Briton Leon Haslam (Honda, 1:31.396), followed by impressive privateer Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia, 1:31.401), Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty (1:31.452), BMW’s Marco Melandri (1:31.481), and Ducati’s Carlos Checa (1:31.523).

Stauffer was in 12th, and fellow Aussie wildcard Glenn Allerton (BMW) was 18th in the field of 20 riders.

In World Supersport, 20-year-old Australian Josh Hook is already raising eyebrows with his speed and tenacity on his Honda, seventh fastest today. Briton Sam Lowes was the fastest on another Honda, ahead of reigning world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki).

Former world number two eased into his WSS return with the 14th fastest lap, six positions ahead of reigning national champion Mitchell Carr in 20th. Rookie World Supersport regular Matt Davies was 32nd in his debut for PTR Honda.

Testing for World Superbike and World Supersport will conclude tomorrow.

Click here for detailed results