Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill was able to make further improvements on track during the final hectic hour-long session at Cartagena today, producing the fastest lap of the Spanish test so far as HM Plant Honda's Shane 'Shakey' Byrne also dipped into the 1m:33s barrier.

The earlier sessions in the day had been shortened but with an hour on track this afternoon Hill had been working through several minor changes to the Swan Yamaha, which paid off as he set the fastest lap of the afternoon.

Hill said:

"I am really happy with the times we ran today as we have to keep reminding ourselves that it is a new bike and we are still learning with every lap. We haven't got previous data of the circuit to compare to so we are just working through everything we can in the time we have here. There has been some good rivalry in the garage with myself and Michael as we have been running very similar times throughout so we have some good banter and then work together to move forward in a real team effort. We are learning all the time but I am conscious not to change my style too much here as it might not translate when we get home to the UK tracks. We are all feeling positive and look forward to the final day tomorrow."

Shane 'Shakey' Byrne came close to Hill's time despite the HM Plant Honda team admitting they have lots of work still to get through and believe there is more to come from both riders. Defending champion Ryuichi Kiyonari was also back on track today, but was working through some issues and is confident that these can be resolved.

The Samsung Crescent Racing pairing of John Hopkins and Jon Kirkham both improved today as the team-mates have clearly settled in with their new team and will now head to Guadix for a further three days of testing next week. Hopkins came close to breaking the 1m:33s barrier in the closing stages of the session and believes he had more in reserve and Kirkham admits he is now feeling more at home on the Superbike and was able to move into the 1m:35s lap times.

Michael Laverty on the second Swan Yamaha had spent the afternoon session focused on changes to the chassis and working with the rear link and fork settings so didn't match his reported time from yesterday. However, Laverty is looking forward to the final day on track tomorrow and hopes that the focus from today will show further improvement.

Josh Brookes was also able to improve on his time from yesterday as the Relentless Suzuki team went back to their original base settings in the opening session before a change to the gearing, with tomorrow's focus to find more confidence in the front.

Michael Rutter took an early bath in the final session as he lost the front and crashed at turn 6.

Unofficial overall test times from Cartagena - Day 3:

1. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:33.5s

2. Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) 1m:33.59s

3. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) 1m:34.0s

4. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) 1m:34.1s

5. Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 1m:35.0s

6. Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing) 1m:35.8s

7. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) 1m:36.0s