Source: Yamaha Racing.

Milwaukee Yamaha completed its opening shakedown test of the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season at Yamaha Motor Europe’s first-ever official race teams combined test at Alcarras in Spain.

Brookes and Parkes made their on track debut with the new bike alongside more than 20 fully-race prepared next generation YZF-R1s for the first outing.

The test also featured Yamaha teams from the Endurance World Championship, IDM German Superbike and European Superstock 1000 series, providing a unique opportunity for Yamaha Motor Europe’s Racing Division to capture valuable data to further develop the YZF-R1.

Brookes said: “I felt a bit rusty on the first day on track after the winter off, but we soon sorted that out with the more time I had on the bike. The third day on the bike was where we had a key turning point and we started to see a real good direction.

“We made more progress today after the first two days of just seeing what worked because of it being a new bike. Everyone in the team has been getting on really well and the bike has been faultless in terms of we have had no mechanical issues throughout the test. We have ended this test today in a good position, knowing we still have more to do, but feeling positive.”

Parkes said: “We are very impressed with the bike. Considering we only started testing the bike two days ago and on the second day we had already improved. We didn’t expect the bike to be so good as it is so quickly and we are very happy where we are.

“The bike has a really nice and easy power-curve. It’s easy to ride and smooth with the power. It’s my first year in the British Superbikes, so I have to learn quite a few tracks. I want to be in the top six to be in the Showdown and then we’ll see what happens.”

The Halsall Suzuki team completed a second successful pre-season test in Spain, with Josh Waters and Christian Iddon feeling positive after three days lapping the Guadix circuit aboard their GSX-R1000s.

After a positive shakedown test last week at Cartagena, the team has continued work on improving the bike’s base-setting and also ran a number of race simulations, making sure both riders have a competitive and consistent package for the opening round at Donington Park next month.

Waters worked toward improving his base-setting at a circuit that shares similarities to Donington Park, commenting: “We worked through a fair bit of stuff at this test. It’s a different circuit to Cartagena but we’ve got some ideas to take to Donington. We’ve improved the mapping, which was one key area of focus for us, and I’ve got to know the team more and more. We’re working well toward the last test back in the UK.”

Billy McConnell wrapped up a productive first test with the Smiths Racing BMW team at Guadix as the reigning Motorpoint British Supersport Champions prepare to make their MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship debut.

McConnell returns to the Superbike class after lifting the Supersport crown with the team last season and after the first shakedown test in Spain, the team were feeling positive about their initial progress ahead of the official test at Donington Park.

McConnell said: “It has been a really productive test and we have been able to work through a lot of changes and ideas and I feel in a good position and on track I felt fast. We have been improving all through the test and then today in our last session I had a moment when I ran on into the gravel, so we wrapped up then as we had done a lot of positive work.

“It has been a big learning curve and we have some good guys working in the team. They started by not giving me the full power to begin with so I felt more comfortable building up to it after years in Supersport. By the end though it all came naturally and it felt really good. I am looking forward now to Donington and getting back out again to get more laps in before the opening round.”

The 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship kicks off at Donington Park this Easter, 4-6 April, for the opening round of the season.