Padgett's Honda British Superbike star Ian Lowry is confident he will find the one second per lap needed to fight with the likes of Michael Laverty for this year's championship and says it is more likely to come from him finding extra confidence in the front end of his Fireblade than changing the setup parameters.

Lowry was a second off what he believes will be race pace during a Honda test at Snetterton on Thursday, with bikesportnews.com clocking him in the early 1'50s, and says he believes the base setup they are looking at will stand him in good stead for the whole of 2012.

I'm really happy with the way it is going. We eliminated a lot of things by trying different geometry and putting in a new suspension link. We're trying to find a base setting for the bike and although Clive (Padgett, team boss) has a good knowledge of where the bike is on the roads, we need to find it for circuits but it's awesome, the bike is brilliant," said Lowry, speaking to bikesportnews.com from inside Snetterton's trap two.

"We're around a second off what race pace is going to be and anyone can ride around a track at 85 per cent and feel good but to take it to the next level takes a bit of work and that is what we are doing now. I'm a lot further on than I was this time last year. I think the time will come from me riding harder and being a bit more confident with the front end and getting the balance of the bike to suit me. We are nearly there with it now but we've got some different fork springs to try because I ride totally differently to Luca (Scassa, Lowry's team-mate)."