After a difficult year spent without a full-time ride, for 2015 Leon Camier joined MV Agusta’s factory effort within the WorldSBK championship. The 28-year-old former BSB Champion proved to be the right choice for the Italian brand’s official squad and their effort to develop the new F4 WorldSBK-spec machine, given the many unknowns of such a new project. His feel for the bike and testing abilities, together with his great speed, has allowed the team to positively impress on the world stage, despite a lack of race results deriving mainly from the expectable ‘teething’ troubles of the new superbike.

“At the start of the season we made massive improvements and quite quickly, too” said Camier. “This was very encouraging and, realistically, I didn’t expect the bike to be as competitive as it was in the beginning. We’ve had a few niggles that have basically stopped us from capitalising on the results that were within our reach. The frustrating thing is now that the problems are going to take a while to be fixed. Maybe there is something we can do at some stage later this year but most likely we will get a final solution next year. Overall I’m happy with the progress we’ve made, but there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done. It’s a new project for the team and their first ‘real’ season, as last year it wasn’t a full factory effort.

“We have to look at things realistically,” the Briton continued. “With a bit more resource and a few adjustments, things could go much better. As soon as you start to make the bike a bit more powerful, you start encountering more problems. It’s never easy to fix a specific problem because the changes you make may lead to different issues. The hardest part is to find the last bit of performance, especially in comparison with other manufacturers and teams who have much more experience in the series.”

Working with a smaller manufacturer has its perks, as Camier has learned lately: “The good thing with MV is that it’s a much more dynamic company compared to the bigger manufacturers. The guys at the factory are running the whole thing and Giovanni Castiglioni comes to some races during the season. He is behind the whole effort and the main reason why I think the whole project can be a successful one in short time. I’m not saying we are going to win the title from one day to the other but things are surely going to improve quickly. He doesn’t mess around and he has the right attitude towards racing. He likes to get things done.”

Camier feels he is giving the right contribution to the team on many different levels: the hard path taken last year, with all the difficulties of not having a full-time ride, has had a strengthening effect on the tall Englishman, who is now very confident about future rewards coming his way.

“I’ve always had a great feel for the bike,” he admitted. “I’ve raced in different championships and classes during the years and rode on many different bikes, so I have gained great experience but at the same time I’m still quite young and still have the motivation to do well. It’s very important to understand what is going on with the bike, especially on the electronic side of things, in order to point the technicians in the right direction. Wrong feedback can cost a lot of time.

“My level of riding right now is definitely good but I think it was the same when I was riding for Suzuki and Aprilia. All that happened last year; the many changes and the lack of a full-time ride made me mentally stronger. I now feel I’m more of a rounded rider. I think, with a couple of changes to the bike, when the right time comes we’ll be able to perform at a very good level.”