Danny Buchan has admitted he isn’t intimidated by Josh Brookes’ dominant day one advantage and believes he still has pace to find this weekend.

The FS-3 Kawasaki rider also feels it could be a matter of settling for second if the Aussie continues his strong form.

Buchan had been punching into the top ranks during FP1 this morning and finished in third place behind leader Brookes and second-placed Peter Hickman.

But the former National Superstock champ powered into the runner-up spot in today’s final practice session, 0.455s ahead of Hickman but 0.723s behind Brookes – which he admitted he was happy with.

“In session one we had problems we had to work through, just making the bike a little easier for me to ride, and after FP1 we had some clear direction,” Buchan told Bikesport News. “But we didn’t actually get a fair judge of it because there were so many red flags, I didn’t get into a rhythm then I had to pull off early.

“In the second session I did about 10 or 12 laps pretty consistently, then we put another tyre in. To roll straight out this weekend and be towards the top is good.”

Despite Brookes’ big lead at the end of day one, Buchan believes it’s a matter of making small steps with setup.

And if he doesn’t think he has the pace to run with the Be Wiser man on race day, he’s not afraid to take points over prizes.

“We just have to keep working through the process and trying to find how we can make the bike better. Josh is very fast around here, the bike is a very good bike and it’ll work well.

“If come race day he’s that much quicker, then you have to settle for what you can settle for. But I’d like to give him a run for his money.”