Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Noriyuki Haga made positive progress on his return to the MCE British Superbike Championship this afternoon at Assen endeing the second free practice session just over half a second adrift of the fastest lap, set by Alex Lowes.

The Samurai of Slide came into the weekend having tested at Snetterton and was happy with his setup, although he said he would have to try one more 'different setting' before qualifying tomorrow afternoon.

Haga, winner of 43 World Superbike races, went on to humorously admit that winning is not an option this weekend, instead he is solely here to aid Shane Byrne in his quest for back-to-back titles.

"This bike already had a great base setting, I just fix small problems. That's it. Tomorrow I will try another different setting and we will see. I don't know about podium, I will push hard," said Haga, speaking to bikesportnews.com from the Dutch circuit.

When asked if he was purely here to help Shane Byrne claim his fourth British Superbike title, Haga jokingly replied, "Yes, this is why I cannot win."