Honda is a work in progress for Lavilla

Former BSB Champion Gregorio Lavilla continued his transition to the Paul Bird Honda CBR1000RR he’ll ride in WSB this season with his second test on the bike in Almeria, Spain.

Having tested at Jerez in December, Lavilla has three days in Almeria before heading to Qatar for a further two day test one week before the opening race at the Doha circuit.

Lavilla has spent the last three seasons racing in BSB onboard the Airwaves Ducati 999 on Dunlop tyres making his switch to the four cylinder Honda and Pirelli tyres a big change.

Speaking to MCN, Lavilla said: “This is a very different for me, but we are making progress. It’s all new, I don’t know the bike and I don’t know how it reacts and the team do not know how this bikes works on the Pirelli tyres and this is a big thing.

“We’ve tried many things with the setting and geometry of the bike just to understand. We tested a lot of things in Jerez even though the weather was not so good and we have been able to do a lot also in Almeria. Now I am starting to feel quite okay with the bike although there are still some things that I don’t like.”

Lavilla completes his testing today (Wednesday) to enable the 2007 specification Honda CBR1000RR to be shipped to Qatar for his final test before making his return to the WSB Championship after a four year break.