Milwaukee BMW’s Karel Abraham completed his first ever laps on a World Superbike during testing at Jerez yesterday and said the switch from the ultra-stiff Open class MotoGP Honda wasn’t a huge shift.

The Czech Republic rider had to adapt quickly to a new brand of tyre, a less stiff chassis, steel not carbon brakes and different electronics but he appeared to take it all in his stride and said the progress in one day was faster than he expected.

“It was the first time for me to sit on a Superbike and it was amazing. I knew what I should expect as I spoke to a couple of guys, Eugene Laverty for example, who have a lot of experience on these bikes and I knew that everything - tyres, brakes, chassis, engine, electronics - were going to be different from MotoGP,” said Abraham, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“There were a few things that were strange for me at the beginning but the bike is powerful, it is good to ride. The front tyre moves around a lot and from what I am used to, that means I am about to crash so be careful, but with these tyres you can push even more and go. Also, the lines are a bit different because of the tyres.

“The electronics are a bit different but we just need to do some work with them. The engine is good and very powerful but different than a MotoGP bike in its delivery - it isn’t missing power. I am looking forward to two days in Aragon too as I know the track and I alredy think things are moving on faster than I expected.”