Camier switches focus after Red Bull Honda progress

Leon Camier has hailed the early 2018 developments his Red Bull Honda squad has made on the Fireblade with chassis and exhaust upgrades at Jerez and will switch focus to race runs at the Portimao test.

The British rider is gearing up for his debut Red Bull Honda WSBK campaign, having switched from MV Agusta over the winter, with two pre-season tests at Jerez and Portimao. Camier is eager to get the Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR SP2 up to speed after a difficult maiden World Superbike campaign last year and is confident with progress made with chassis and Akrapovic exhaust updates having set the fourth fastest overall time of the Jerez test with a 1m 39.608s - only behind Kawasaki duo Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea plus Pata Yamaha test rider Nicolo Canepa.

Red Bull Honda also confirmed new electronic settings were being evaluated at the two-day Jerez test using Cosworth electronics to provide data comparisons ahead of its switch to Magnetti Marelli at the Portimao test.

Having enjoyed two Jerez tests with his new World Superbike squad, Camier is eager to continue his momentum at Portimao as the Portuguese circuit provides different characteristics to Jerez.

“I'm really happy with how this test went, we've made some good progress and I'm learning the bike more and more,” Camier said. “There's still a lot I'd like to work on at the next test in Portimao and I think as I ride this bike on different tracks I'll be able to get even more out of our package.

“I'm looking forward to doing more long runs in the upcoming tests as this will help me understand how the bike will behave over race distance, but all in all I've learned a lot over the last two days, I'm feeling good and am a lot more comfortable on the Fireblade and now we just need to keep up the good work at the upcoming tests.”

The Red Bull Honda squad heads to Portimao with the majority of the 2018 World Superbike grid for a second two-day test on the 28-29 January.