Image: Russell Colvin.

Alvaro Bautista says the potential of the all-new Team HRC Honda CBR1000R-RR is ‘all there’ after the final Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) pre-season test concluded at Phillip Island this week.

Bautista, who dominated Phillip Island’s season-opener last year on Ducati machinery, has been challenged by his transition to the Japanese manufacturer – the Spaniard ultimately finishing both days of testing 16th and 10th on the timesheets.

The race winner is confident in the package, explaining the team and himself need to work towards harnessing what the brand-new Superbike has to offer.

“This test has been very important for us of course and I think we’ve made progress,” Bautista commented. “With respect to yesterday, my feeling with the Fireblade was a little better this morning, while this afternoon was a little trickier in the wind and on a more slippery track.

“We’ve also tested tyres today, finding positives and negatives as is always the case, and we also attempted a long run in order to collect as much data as possible ahead of the first races. All this information is really important as we move forward and I’m confident we can take another step forward this coming weekend.

“The potential, power and speed are all there, now we just need to work to be able to effectively harness it all.”

Bautista’s team-mate, Leon Haslam, was fifth fastest during the pair of days of testing.