Showdown shoe-in Jake Dixon admits it took him most of today’s second free practice session to get used to the softer Pirelli rubber.

But after finishing 0.127s behind FP2 leader Bradley Ray, the the RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki rider admits there’s more to come from both he and the bike this weekend.

Dixon spent the morning on the harder SC1 compound tyre and was only able to set the 14th fastest time of FP1, but after using the same rubber for the first half of the afternoon practice, he made the leap to the softer SC0.

And although he was about to pack in the session while sitting outside the top-10, he gave one last push and ended the session second quickest, which he puts down to increased comfort with the zero tyre.

“I don’t think it was anything mental, it just took me a bit of time getting used to the zero again and getting back into the groove after using the one,” he told Bikesport News.

“I was out on the SC1 this morning for the whole session, and then this afternoon the first run I did half the session on the one before I went out on the zero. So where I had no grip this morning on the one I was expecting the zero to have no grip.

“I struggled a bit with the zero and I came in with six minutes to go and said, ‘I can’t go no quicker’. The boys said not to worry about it and they’d put their heads together overnight and we’d try again in the morning.

“I was half a second off at this point, 16th I think. I went back out and just found half a second. They asked me what I did and I didn’t know.

“There’s more to come. I don’t feel quite comfortable with the front end yet, I think there’s a few things we can tweak there and with the electronics, and I can make an improvement myself. It’s the first day at a new track.”

Dixon also revealed that while the riders are using many of the corners on the National circuit which are shared with the usual GP layout, the new section between Becketts and the Wellington Straight is vital to get right for a fast lap.

“It’s a lot of the same track, but new section makes it a bit different because it’s so critical to get right. It’s such a unique part of the track now, but it’s so crucial to make time there.

“I think you’ll see throughout the weekend people getting a lot faster and it’s going to tighten up a lot.”