After an impressive start to his Superbike World Championship debut at Phillip Island this weekend, Josh Waters is in with a shot at contesting more rounds with Yoshimura Suzuki this season.

The Japanese team, which is made up of Yoshimura’s Suzuka 8 Hours crew, will take part in three WSBK events this season, opting to use Waters as the team’s lone rider at the Phillip Island season opener.

Waters immediately made an impact on Friday by setting the 10th fastest lap in practice ahead of many credentialled internationals, before he went on to qualify 11th in Superpole this afternoon – just two positions behind Alstare Suzuki’s WSBK regular Michel Fabrizio.

Yoshimura Japan president Fujio Yoshimura is pleased with the 24-year-old’s performance, telling MotoOnline.com.au that he has a huge future ahead of him.

“I think he is very talented and ever since we have been here he has definitely progressed step by step,” Yoshimura commented. “He didn’t go in over his head, but has been aggressive enough – that’s what we need.

“Josh is still young and he can learn a lot of things, so I think he has a lot of potential for the future.”

While the team hasn’t finalised what rounds it will contest this year or who the rider will be, Yoshimura hasn’t ruled out giving Waters another run at an overseas event.

“We are planning to do three rounds,” he explained. “In the next two rounds we are yet to decide who the rider will be.

“I’m going to decide after this weekend, after we see how Josh goes and how he feels on our bike.”

Yoshimura has launched a brand new R-11R racing exhaust system on Waters’ bike this weekend, the new systems set to be available to the public, in both road and race form, as soon as R&D on the Yoshimura R-11R is complete.

Waters has immensely enjoyed his weekend to date, beaming after qualifying on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s pair of 22-lap races.

“Like I said after the test, it’s pretty cool to ride around with guys you’ve idolised your whole career,” Waters smiled. “The team is making steps forward and I’m feeling more and more comfortable.

“The bike has been good from the start and I have two bikes with different things on them. I’ve chosen the bike I want to race and it’s definitely getting better.

“The amount of good Suzuki riders that Yoshimura could have put on the bike to race here is huge, so I feel pretty lucky. It’s hard to believe, so I’m just trying my hardest and hopefully we’ll finish alright.”

On whether or not Waters is keen to do more rounds, he said he is definitely interested if the opportunity arises.

“For sure I’d be interested [in doing more rounds],” he admitted. “But in saying that, I understand if the team races in a different country then they might want to select a local rider from there.

“I really like the team a lot and I’m pretty sure they like me too [laughs].”

Waters’ only commitment for 2011 is a partial Australian Superbike season with Team Suzuki, the 2009 series champion opting to take up the wild card position over an ASBK start this weekend.