Milwaukee Yamaha’s Broc Parkes was a little surprised by the performance of the new YZF-R1 over the last three days of testing at Alcarras and says it feels a little like a GP bike.

The Australian, who will put in his first full season in the MCE British Superbike Championship this year, says he improved in terms of laptimes over the sessions and didn’t expect it to be as good as it was.

“We are very impressed with the bike. Considering we only started testing the bike two days ago and on the second day we had already improved,” said Parkes.

“We didn’t expect the bike to be so good as it is so quickly and we are very happy where we are. The bike has a really nice and easy power-curve. It feels a little like a GP bike. It’s easy to ride and smooth with the power.”

Click here for a monster Alcarras Yamaha test gallery