Australia’s Troy Corser has made a welcome return to a place where he once roamed with complete authority – at the sharp end of a World Superbike field.

The two-time world champion guided his BMW to its best ever WSBK result at round three in Valencia when he was a hard-fought fourth in race one behind championship leader Leon Haslam (Suzuki), Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and James Toseland (Yamaha).

The Wollongong rider even led for a few laps early on, and is optimistic that his woes with the hitherto fickle BMW are now behind him.

“Race one was great. That’s where I expect us to be right now,” said Corser. “The bike just felt good. We were able to compete with the top guys, to manage the tyres and to go at race pace until the chequered flag.

“We did not change a lot for the second race. Unfortunately I lacked grip over the entire race distance. We now have to analyse the data and see what we can learn.”

Corser was a lowly 12th in race two, which was won by Japan’s Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) to make him the most successful WSBK rider at Valencia with six wins.