The Italian put in a considerable amount of laps aboard this year’s Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra K6 bikes at a private two-day test at the French circuit, run under variable weather conditions.

Max Biaggi:

”The last time I rode on a race track was on the 6th November in 2005 and after nearly a year off, getting onto a race bike again was a slightly strange experience as you can imagine. The Superbike is heavier than a MotoGP bike and that makes changing direction - in chicanes for example - a little harder. I had a lot to learn in these two days and a lot to think about.

“This is the first time I’ve been to this track and so I had to learn which way round it went before I could even start working on going quickly. Then there is the big difference in tyres because I’ve not raced on these Pirellis before. The feeling of them is something that I have to learn to understand bit by bit.

“I started off by trying to get comfortable on the bike and this meant altering the position of the handlebars, footrests and all the levers. Because I am not very big, I also had to have some extra padding on the seat so that I didn’t slide around too much. No carbon brakes on a Superbike for example so, of course, I have to get used to a different way of braking as well. In fact the whole Superbike package is quite different to what I have been used to. All in all there’s a lot to learn but I’ve started the process and now I’m looking forward to the next test and continuing my learning curve.”