EXCLUSIVE: Leon Haslam explains confidence on Ducati after BSB Donington test

Leon Haslam’s switch from his own BMW setup to the Moto Rapido Ducati team was one of the major moves in the British Superbike paddock to have been decided before the new year, and the Derbyshire rider says he is already “very confident” in his new bike.

Haslam was second-fastest at the second test of the 2025 BSB preseason at Donington Park, behind only Glenn Irwin on the PBM Ducati.

Not only was Haslam happy with his position, but also with how he arrived to it, having been unable to do a final time attack on Saturday due to inconsistent weather.

“Obviously we only really got one session yesterday, we got caught out a bit with the weather,” Haslam told Crash.net after the second day of the Donington test.

“Today, we only really got [...] one-and–a-half sessions. So, not a massive amount of laps, but the laps that we did do we’ve been very competitive and we learnt a lot with the bike.”

Despite the limited time, Haslam was firmly positive about his early impressions of the Ducati Panigale V4 R.

“Really good,” the 2018 BSB Champion said of his new bike.

“Obviously the bike’s there, it’s in the window, already proven. It’s more for me to get my head around the new bike, the new team.

“To be already P2 and not really having any time attacks and everything else, I feel very confident.”

Haslam added that he’d been able to try the same lower seat unit that Glenn Irwin had been testing since Navarra, and that tyre life will be his focus at the final preseason test at Oulton Park on 23–24 April.

“We’ve both [Haslam and Irwin] been trying the lower seat – I never tried the old one,” he said.

“So, everything at the minute is a little bit new and it’s just for me to figure it out.”

He added: “We’ve got to have a look at tyre life, I think everyone had a bit of an issue here with the new tyre.

“But I think Oulton will be a different story, it’s a very different circuit, very undulating. At the minute, [...] I’ve not even done 100 laps on the bike, so [we need to go] step-by-step and we’ll see where we are at the test.”