Christian Iddon will finally be able to start his World Superbike campaign onboard his Bimota BB3 Evo bike with his Alstare team, after having missed out on the opening round at Phillip Island back in February.

The Stockport rider completed his first real test in Portimao, but unfortunately it was the week that a monsoon decided to hit Portugal and the majority of the five days he was there were wasted because of the wet weather. Iddon was joined by team-mate Ayrton Badovini but the pair were only able to get a few dry laps under their belt, but it was still enough for the team to get some much needed data.

Iddon now feels he's slightly behind the rest of the World Superbike pack as he hasn't completed an extensive testing programme like his fellow riders, but he wont be putting too much pressure on himself and will be riding to the best of his ability, and debuting his brand new machine - and he can't wait to get started.

"Testing in Portimao was extremely wet, and we ended up doing no where near what we wanted to do. It was like riding in a monsoon and on a brand new bike I didn't really want to risk it. But I did manage to get on the bike, as I needed to do as many laps as possible to get a feel of the bike and to get data too. In the end I completed ten laps in the dry and 60 in the wet," said Iddon, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"On a new bike I felt no where near ready. We haven't touched anything on the settings - but what I did manage to do on the bike felt fantastic. It feels so agile, but we have the stock BMW engine which we cant alter. I have not ridden a 1000cc bike in a long time - but it felt good.

"I am not putting any pressure on myself I just want to ride to the best of my ability. lt feels like it's been a long time coming, and now I can finally get on the starting grid at Aragon. I just cant wait to get out there and start my first race in World Superbike."