Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam will get a new engine specification to test at this weekend’s Portimao World Superbike round which should better suit the characteristics needed for the Portugese track.

The Derby rider has struggled with the ageing Fireblade this year and problems with the new-for-this-year electronic software haven’t helped but team technical chief Pieter Breddels says Haslam is now happier than he has been.

“Leon is happier with the bike now and Portimao is one of his favourite tracks. We will be trying a different engine specification with him this weekend which is designed to improve driveability for the particular characteristics of the Portimao circuit. We’re looking forward to seeing how that goes and to see if we can keep making positive steps like we have been recently,” said Breddels.