Source: Honda Racing.

Australian Jason O’Halloran will feature in Honda Racing UK’s development program during its year off from competition in the MCE British Superbike Championship.

O’Halloran, currently riding for Honda in the British Superstock Championship, will climb aboard the championship-winning CBR1000RR at upcoming tests according to team manager Neil Tuxworth.

The Honda Racing team won the MBSB title for the fourth time in 2013, but are using 2014 as a development year to re-focus their efforts around future racing activity, with a view to a planned full-time return to BSB in 2015.

“We have a structured testing program, where we have kept both Alex Lowes’ title-winning Superbike from last season and the second Fireblade that Ryuichi Kiyonari rode last year and we have worked hard on testing comparisons,” said Tuxworth.

“Alex’s bike has remained the same and then Kiyo’s 2013 machine we have used to test engine performance improvements and we have worked hard on weight distribution as an overview in addition to several other areas.

“We also have some upcoming tests at Knockhill and Croft too and there we will test the latest frame from the new SP model and a new swingarm which we can then run back to back comparisons with Alex’s bike which remains the same to see if and where improvements can be found.

“For this test Jason will also test the Superbike because we think it will benefit the program to have feedback from another rider too.”

The team will partake in its first planned wildcard appearance of 2014 at Snetterton on 13-15 June with Frenchman Julien Da Costa at the helm.