“It was definitely fun to get out there again with the boys with something on the line – the timed session gave it a bit of an edge today and was a little bit of a tease before the first race.

The position is not too bad but my time is quite a long way from the front. I haven’t spent much time on qualifying tyres at the winter tests so it was good to get that time here and put in a few quick laps. Some of the other riders really put in some hot laps today so credit to them.

The conditions towards the end of the session were dodgy because there was a fine mist of rain falling which made it interesting – and riding on qualifiers is always exciting enough anyway. I feel like perhaps we’re still missing a little something to get the speed I want but I’m excited to go racing – I’m really looking forward to it.”