Dean Harrison made an impression during the official 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship pre-season test as he joined his Honda Racing UK team-mates in cracking the overall top ten on the combined timesheets.

The 2019 Senior TT winner joins the works-backed Honda team this season for both his short circuit commitments in BSB alongside Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin, as well as his roads campaign at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.

While Harrison has long been considered a road racing specialist, he has made progress circuit racing in the BSB in recent years, culminating in his strongest season yet in 2023 with the DAO Racing Kawasaki team.

Up inside the top five after the first day of action around the Leicestershire venue, Harrison’s quickest lap of 1m 28.877s set during the final Saturday session would prove strong enough overall to place him ninth at the final flag.

Praising the strengths of the Honda CBR1000RR-R package, Harrison feels he is in good shape for the opening round of the season in Navarra on 21-22 April.

“I genuinely feel really happy, that’s one of the fastest lap times I’ve done around here, even in all that wind, on a new bike, so I’m happy. 

“The bike feels really nice, there’s always room for improvement but I am super happy, the biggest change for me has been the difference in power delivery and the way the bike works on the side of the tyre, which is just a bit different to what I’m used to. 

“I think we have been lucky with the weather, I don't think the wind has helped, but I do think we’ve been lucky to get this much dry time. 

“We’ve tried loads of different things on the bike, some things worked and some things didn’t but with my crew chief Lee we have worked well together. 

“I feel good in myself and I feel good heading to Navarra, I know where I need to focus and where we can make some improvements.”