Honda’s Leon Haslam is relishing the prospect of the 2021 WorldSBK season now he has a year’s worth of data to work with.

After a winter of intense training across every possible discipline, from minibikes to endurance, Haslam is ready to get back on his Fireblade, convinced that he can fight at the front after an important year of experience and growth.

“It’s been a tough winter and I’ve had to delay my training schedule to some extent, but I’ve kept very busy in recent months, spending time in Barcelona where I’ve been doing some flat track, minibike, trials and endurance riding,” said Haslam.

“I honestly feel the strongest and fittest I’ve been and now I’m keen to get back on my Blade. Last year was a big learning curve, with a new team, a new bike, and then a very short and intense season.

But now, in our second year, we’ll have a lot more data available to us, so I hope we can start each weekend with a better base. That, combined with the continuing development of the bike, can help us take several steps forward.

“Everyone has been working so hard over the winter and I honestly can’t wait to get started. I think we can really start challenging this season.”

Haslam and team-mate Alvaro Bautista will be on track this Thursday at the semi-official Barcelona test, along with new team manager Leon Camier.

“Last year was not easy for anyone as we know, and development of the Blade, a brand-new bike, was of course affected by the pandemic and the limited testing time,” said Camier.

“The bike was obviously pretty special though, immediately very fast, and lot of work has now been done behind the scenes in recent months on every aspect of the bike. I think we can expect to make a good step as we fight for the best possible results.”