New rider Chris Walker made a promising start to his Foggy PETRONAS Racing career on the first day of the team’s two-day test at Valencia.

The Englishman joined team-mate Troy Corser for the first time on the Pirelli tyres that will be used by all teams in the World Superbike championship next year.

But Chris spent the day concentrating on the feel of the FP1, completing 60 laps and setting a best time of 1:38.3 compared to Troy’s 1:37.7.

Chris said: “I have just been familiarising with the bike and the way the team works today. The first day at the office is always very different. But I already know that the bike does certain things very well. All I can do at this early stage is use Troy as a benchmark and I was only half a second behind him today which is very encouraging. The new tyres were the least of my worries today _ I can concentrate on them when I know the bike a bit better.”

Troy said: “The tyres do feel different to the Michelins - actually a bit more like Dunlops - and we both struggled with a bit of chatter at the front and rear. But this is only to be expected on our first day on them, and we are a full day behind the factory Ducati guys, who were out yesterday here. We played around with constructions and compounds and we have a few more options to try tomorrow.”