Gregorio Lavilla celebrated his return to the World Superbike Championship stage with a double points finish in the season opener at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
Having qualified in 13th place aboard the 2007-specification Vent Axia VK Honda Fireblade, the former British Superbike champion was able to finish 13th in the opening race and followed it up with 14th in race two despite having to spend the race weekend getting used to the Pirelli tyres on his machine while also doing set-up work to make up for a lack of pre-season testing.
"If we had twenty days of winter tests we could blame ourselves for not getting the set-up right, but most of our competition has been running Pirellis for three or four years," he said. "We have to develop our equipment to suit the change of tyres so we cannot expect miracles.
"The regular teams know how to make the tyres last. We have to forget all we know from before and begin from zero."
Team boss Paul Bird admitted that it hadn't been an easy weekend for Lavilla on his return to the series and said he was disappointed not to have come away with at least one top ten finish.
"It's been difficult for Greg after four years away, and it's hard when you don't have a Ducati," he said. "The Pirelli control tyres are the main thing; it's difficult to get our heads around them this early. From lap seven to lap ten Greg was fastest rider on the track, then he was forced to slow.
"We're disappointed because we came here to finish well inside the top ten and we haven't done it but it won't be long until we get the new 2008 bike."
