Reigning British 125GP Champion Matt Hoyle had a baptism of fire at the Jerez tests over the past three days when he went up against the best riders in the world on his brand new Haojue.

Hoyle and team-mate Michael Ranseder are up against bikes that have a lot of testing and development time under their belts while the Chinese-based Haojue bike is almost totally untested.

"It has been something of a baptism of fire for the team in general and for our GP rookie Matt Hoyle in particular," said team director Garry Taylor. "Most of the machines out there have a few seasons of race development, while we are still testing new ideas, parts and set-ups.

"We had a lot of work to do with various engine and chassis options in a limited amount of on-track time, but we have come away with a stack of information, data and experience which will help us continue to move forward.

"For Matt it was his first time on track with GP class riders and he coped really well. Michael worked really hard, riding smoothly and consistently to give great feedback to the team. He put in so many laps that the motor reached the end of its service life and he had to miss the last session.

"The team received a great welcome from the rest of the MotoGP paddock with many positive comments on the amount of progress we have made with the machine in just eight months since turning a wheel for the first time."

Hoyle said: "Well this was the first step on what I hope is a short ladder in the move up to the top level of 125 racing. The team is working really well and we are all learning all of the time. I'm loving it!"