Yorkshire’s Dan Linfoot has finally got the works MCE British Superbike ride he has been wanting after signing a one-year deal to ride for the factory Honda team in 2015 alongside Jason O’Halloran.

The 26-year-old, who finished fifth in this year’s title chase, was contacted by bosses Neil Tuxworth and Havier Beltran not long after the Silverstone round and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

“It’s a nice feeling to know what I am doing doing already next year. I’ve not had that in my racing as of yet, so really excited! Obviously it’s going to be a lot more pressure on the one hand because it is a championship winning team, good credentials from past seasons but I think there is a lot of potential for me to improve further,” said Factory Dan, as he shall from henceforth be known, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“I finished fifth this season so looking to improve on that and come closer to winning the championship, which is my aim. I was in discussion with some other teams because I always had a belief that you don’t ring Honda up and ask for a ride, if they want somebody, they call you. I didn’t approach Honda; I didn’t really think that there would be an opportunity there for me so I was going down the line of approaching other teams.

“The day after Silverstone, Harv rang and said would you like to come and have a chat about doing something next season, so obviously there was only one answer and I went a couple of days later to see Harvey and Neil.

“It was apparent straight away that there was a deal to be had and I was willing to move forward, it didn’t take a lot of deciding, the team showed that they wanted to work with me rather than keep me on the back burner in case someone else didn’t come.

“The fact they wanted me, I was obviously well pumped to work with them so it was a no-brainer. I do have a little Honda experience, it is a team I have looked up to for god knows how many years; from HM Plant to Samsung, it is a team you aspire to ride for so when the opportunity came, I grabbed it with both hands.”

Read the full interview with Linfoot in the next issue of Bikesport News, out on November 6.