Red Devils Aprilia’s Leon Haslam has identified the electronics of his factory-backed RSV4 as his best weapon in the 2015 World Superbike war and while he has an eye on the title that has so far eluded him, the Briton is willing to play for podiums this weekend at Phillip Island.

"My goal for this season is to win, as it always is,” said Haslam. “This year I'm pretty certain that I have the best possible technical package available to try and do just that.

“Performance is smooth and the electronics are my best weapon, plus I can count on a professional team that is accustomed to winning. Plus, I'm coming off my first winter break without any physical problems. I'm still not at 100% fitness but I'm improving day by day and I'm working with a highly skilled technical team."

As the Australian circuit is quite different on bike setup and ever so crucial on tyre life, Haslam and his team were working on those particular things at Monday and Tuesday’s official test that let the 31-year-old walk away with a positive outlook and is now ever so keen to get down to business.

“We have had two good days just working on the setup and getting the tires to last the distance,” explained Haslam to bikesportnews.com during the launch of the all new look silver Aprilia beast.

“We never really had to chase a lap time as we have always been within a tenth or two of the leading times. Overall we have done really well in regards to getting the bike setup to complete the twenty-two lap come Sunday.”

A 1’31.102 was Haslam’s fastest time across the two days that saw him wrap up the two day test in fifth position which was .027sec shy of Tom Sykes’s fastest lap time.

It’s one thing to go fast in testing, but it is a whole new ball game come race time when there is a lot of testosterone on the track racing for that number one spot as we all know. So heading into this weekend, just how much confidence does Haslam carry into this weekend after a good few days out fanging around on one of the world’s fastest race tracks in the world? Well, the answer is – a lot of confidence according to Haslam.

“This track is very crucial with wind directions and temperature and it was quite cool at the test, so the lap times come quite easy. When it is warmer weather it throws a few spanners into the works, as such. It is the same for everyone, but I am feeling good in every condition so far, so I’m pretty happy.”

After spending the last two years with Honda, and now saddling up on a different style of bike, bikesportnews.com wanted to know has Haslam had to ‘re-adjust’ his riding style at all to suit the V4 machine. “I’ve had to change my style a little bit. You still have to ride it, but it’s the electronics which is working very differently on the Aprilia and the power delivery is totally different.”

Haslam also explained that the Honda CBR1000RR SP was really good at changing directions and turning, while the Aprilia RSV4 has such a smooth power delivery. “You have to get use to the bike and right now every lap I do on the bike I am getting more and more confident, so I am very happy with the progress.”

Let’s push the fast forward button towards Sunday afternoon, and what will Leon Haslam be happy with come the end of this weekend: “Well realistically we are going for the win, but you can’t be too unhappy to walk away with two podiums at round one, and that is what everyone is thinking about in the back of their minds. If the win is possible, great, if not you just have to try and get on the podium and that is what you have to do at the first round.”

Come Sunday, it will be exactly 1820 days since Haslam won his first ever WSBK race which was at Phillip Island in race one after he beat  Michel Fabrizio by .004sec at the line in the closest finish ever recorded in a World Superbike race!

When you look at the past record for Aprilia at Phillip Island, it’s pretty impressive. Starting from 2011, the Italian manufacture have won four of the eight races held at the Victorian circuit, and in the same time span, when they didn’t win they were second at the finish line.

This has made Aprilia, together with Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki, the second most successful team at the island with five wins, trailing behind Ducati which has twenty-two.