Tommy Bridewell and Michael Laverty have ended their first test with the all-new Tyco BMW in Cartagena feeling positive about the team's initial progress as they move on to Almeria for the next stage of their testing programme.

The test marked the first appearance of the Tyco BMW team this season, with both riders working through a variety of big changes as they got to grips with the new bike. The team-mates left the final day, improving their pace and confident that with further testing at Almeria next week that they will be in a strong position ahead of the official test at Donington Park on March 26.

Bridewell said:

"We have had a good four days at Cartagena and this was very much a test for us. It was the shakedown of the new bikes as they were brand new when we arrived here. We started the test by running standard parts and then introducing new ones throughout the four days and the times were then coming down. We ended the test feeling better for sure and I was faster today so that is all good progress.

"We worked through everything we wanted to and hopefully for the next test we will have the next set of parts to test to make the next big steps forward again. It has been a lot of hard riding in terms of we have tried as much as we could during the four days and they were all big changes. Every time we went out it felt different with the big changes we were making so we could understand how the BMW reacted. I have a much better understanding of the bike now and it has been very productive. I am happy as our best time came on used tyres in a longer stint. Now we can head to Almeria ready to try and make the next steps forward. Our progress was more than we expected, but you obviously always want more."

Laverty said:

"I am reasonably happy after the first test. I had set the target of getting into the 1m:34s lap times and although we achieved that, it wasn't as consistently as I would have liked. We have been working on getting a good feeling with the bike as standard and then added new parts into the mix, which was positive, but now we are waiting on the next parts to take it to the next level.

"We are in a good position and the team have worked really hard here with all the big changes we have been working through; we have been turning the bike inside out to see how it feels in different situations, and it will be a strong package for sure. At Almeria we can continue with what we need to work through and hopefully with some new parts too. We are not a million miles away so hopefully we will then be all set for the official test at Donington Park."

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