Source: Supplied.

Former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden transferred directly through to Superpole 2 at Phillip Island today upon debut of the 2017 Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2.

The 35-year-old American has started his Motul World Superbike campaign on the right foot by qualifying eighth on combined times, despite limited development to date.

Hayden was able to take the best out of the new Pirelli spec tyres brought for the Australian round as he clocked in 1m31.099s in the first free practice session.

“It’s nice to be at Phillip Island and get the season back off,” Hayden said. “We had a few ideas to try on the bike from testing here earlier this week – we made a little bit of a step forward, with the track conditions being a bit better and with the new spec tyres brought by Pirelli, one of which I particularly liked.

“I was able to do some decent times with it but we still need to find some more speed ahead of race one. The competition is really tough in the group where I’m in at the moment. Being in Superpole 2 is surely good news, so I hope we’ll be able to qualify well tomorrow and get a good race result.”

Red Bull Honda teammate Stefan Bradl’s first WorldSBK appearance was a tough one, 16th on combined times following Friday’s sessions, over half a second off the pace of Hayden.