Four-day shakedown alongside new teammate Linfoot.
Honda Racing have wrapped up their first four days on track at Monteblanco in Spain ahead of their 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship campaign as Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot continued to get to grips with the Fireblades.
Saturday’s on-track sessions were hampered by intermittent rain showers, but the pair made the most of the final day on circuit Sunday to clock up the laps in dry conditions.
O’Halloran said: “It has been a good test. Yesterday I had two small crashes on the final day so hopefully we have got that out of the way for the year now! I just lost the front, but there wasn’t much damage and the boys turned it around quickly.
“We ended the day with a positive run of laps and were back up to the times we had been doing before them, so we can leave this test happy with the progress we have made. Over the four days we have done a lot of work with the chassis and we feel happy with what we have done so far.”
O’Halloran bounced back from a pair of crashes to post a run of consistent lap times and declared his confidence remains high ahead of their next appearance on track in March.
Linfoot completed over 100 laps whilst testing new parts and was feeling confident that the chassis changes have put the team in a strong position ahead of their next test.
“The team have worked really hard over the past week and because of that we can end this test feeling positive about what we have achieved,” team manager Havier Beltran concluded. “We were a bit unfortunate with the weather on Saturday, but yesterday was better and both riders really clocked up the laps.
“Both riders had a fantastic approach throughout the test and although Jason had crashes yesterday we made good steps forward. We have tested a variety of parts and have some good feedback to look at ahead of our next visit to Monteblanco next month.
“I need to praise the crew chiefs for their achievements on the development of the Fireblade as it is clear that we have made good progress already since our last test.”
This year marks Honda’s return to BSB after just selected appearances last year, following Alex Lowes’ title victory in 2013.