Source: Supplied.

All eyes were on 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden at MotorLand Aragon, Spain, for two days of WorldSBK testing on Monday and Tuesday this week in his debut with Honda.

Hayden’s first taste of the new challenge translated into a significant number of new areas to explore – new bike, new tyres, steel brakes and different electronics. The 34-year-old American has worked tirelessly with the team to get comfortable on his CBR machine with a special focus on the front of the bike and on its electronics.

“Today we were able to improve immediately from yesterday and kept making small steps forward throughout the day,” Hayden explained. “We got a little bit stuck at some stage on pure performance but then we were able to push through and improve under braking and on corner entry.

“We now have an idea on where we need to improve; we used two bikes with different configurations and I liked some things from both, so now it’s a matter of putting things together and see if the general feeling improves with it.

“It’s early days still and surely the weather didn’t help but I enjoyed riding the bike and working with the team. Now we have a week off to look through the data before Jerez and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a different kind of track compared to here and we’ll see what happens.”

On the other side of the Honda World Superbike Team garage, Michael van der Mark acknowledged that the Japanese bikes are looking to make up a deficit in horsepower ahead of 2016.

Xavi Fores continued to ride alongside Chaz Davies on the second Aruba.it Racing Ducati Superbike Team Panigale R, while it remains to be seen as to whether Davide Giugliano will return at Jerez next week.

At the Pata Yamaha World Superbike squad, Sylvain Guintoli is riding with the #50 with which he won the WorldSBK title in 2014, ploughing on his learning of the YZF-R1. Alex Lowes also resumed his duties, having reunited with crew chief Ian Prestwood, whom the English rider wrapped up the British Superbike title in 2013.

The most inquisitive story of the day was the lap time achieved by WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea. As he continued development work with teammate Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team reported that Rea had posted a lap time of 1m50.3s with the new Ninja ZX-10R.

Aragon WorldSBK test unofficial results:
1. Jonathan REA 1m50.3
s
2. Chaz DAVIES 1m51.0s
3. Tom SYKES 1m51.1s
4. Alex LOWES 1m51.1
s
5. Xavi FORES 1m51.3
s
6. Michael VAN DER MARK 1m51.5s
7. Nicky HAYDEN 
1m51.8s
8. Sylvain GUINTOLI 1m52.5s