LEON Haslam continues to impress for his new Suzuki team in the countdown to the new World Superbike Championship season which kicks off next weekend.

The rider from Smalley ended the first day of the Phillip Island World Superbike tests in Australia with the third fastest lap just behind the Ducati pair of Carlos Checa and Michel Fabrizio.

Haslam has been on the pace throughout winter testing on board the Alstare Suzuki and said: "I am really happy because we got through a lot of stuff and also managed to work through some of the tyres that we may use in next weekend's race.

"I feel we've got a good bike set-up and good ideas about which directions to take during the rest of the test. It has all been very positive so far.

"Phillip Island is always hard on tyres because there are so many left-handers, so you really have to choose your tyres carefully.

"The work with team--mate Sylvain Guintoli has been very good and we are all getting along great. We'll set up the two bikes the same and then do a back-to-back test using different tyres."

Sunday test results: 1 C Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:31.959, 2 M Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati) 1:32.349, 3 L Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.484, 4 N Haga (JPN-Ducati) 1:32.518, 5 J Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:32.544, 6 S Byrne (GBR-Ducati) 1:32.671.