Compared to last year, the bike is now at a stage when I can just turn up and race instead of starting a race weekend still testing stuff.
The bike has come on a lot in the past couple of months and now I feel much more comfortable on it. There have been big improvements in the traction control and the engine braking and this has made the bike easier for me to ride. We are managing the tyres better and we are getting to the stage where they will last better towards the end of a race. I have been so happy to be able to lead races and I’m sure it won’t be long before we get our first podium.
That’s our goal from the start of the season and there is no reason why this cannot happen.

Part of our improvement this year is that the organisation of the team has also got a lot better and we are now much more of a team. Davide (Tardozzi) has been a big help in this area and a couple of new mechanics, including one from Ducati, has made things better all round. All of this is necessary because the championship this year is the most competitive it has ever been. The difference between success and failure or good qualifying and average qualifying is so small.
There have been times this year when just one second has separated eighteen riders! Superpole is so crucial now because the smallest of mistakes could put you two rows further down the grid! At the start of the year, I said that nobody would run away with the champion ship this year and I still believe that. It has been a bit surprising that the Ducatis haven’t featured as strongly as usual, but I’m sure they will again.

The Aprilia is the fastest bike out there this year, but my BMW is not far off. Leon (Haslam) has had a good string of results. He and the team have gelled right from the start and he’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. I am happy with what we achieved last year and now my aim is to get some podiums for my team and realise the full potential of the bike.

That’s going to slow our progress for sure, so it’s up to me, Ruben and the whole team to work at 100% right from the start of first practice and hope nothing goes wrong! I knew Ruben would take some time to get used to a four cylinder bike but, at the last test , he made a breakthrough and that’s a good sign for his and the team’s future. Ruben and I are very different riders, which means the engineers get a lot of data from us and can progress more quickly then if we’d both been the same. I felt very comfortable on the bike from more or less the second test and that was without using a lot of the electronics. I got to the stage where I felt that I could race the bike the very next day and that’s a great feeling to have with a brand new motorcycle.

The team are very, very committed and we have a great bunch of guys, all determined to work hard and go for it right from the start. It’s not going to be an easy road, but I’d like to think that maybe we could surprise a few people before the end of the season and that’s what I’ll be trying to do. Write to me and let me know what you think and, if you come to the track, give me wave and show your support!