James Ellison Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP rider

As this is my first column for the BBC Sport website, I thought I'd give you all a bit of background on who I am and where I'm from.

Jerez was Ellison's first run out in his new Yamaha livery

I was born and raised in Kendal in the Lake District and I'm 25. I've been racing for 11 years, but this is my second full season in MotoGP - motorcycling's top-level championship.

I'm riding for the Tech3 Yamaha team, and I'd like to give you a behind-the-scenes account of what goes on at race weekends and life between the races.

The first race of the season, in Jerez, was a disaster for me as we had some technical problems and I was unable to perform to my full potential.

From lap one, I had no traction and I had to ride round for another 27 laps knowing there was nothing I could do about it.

Part of me wanted to pull in but there's a lot of work put into a race by a lot of people and it would have been very selfish of me to do that.

I'm sure we'll do a lot better than last week, and hopefully we'll give British fans something to cheer

Being lapped by other riders on relatively the same equipment as you is soul-destroying, so it was a painful 27 laps and a race I hope I'll never have to relive.

I knew it wasn't down to my riding that I was going so slow, but people on the outside didn't know, and even my team didn't know that until I came in after the race and explained everything.

Luckily we had a test day the next day so I had a chance to prove to the team that I was capable of going a lot faster.

We started the test with the race set-up from the day before, and by the second lap I had gone more than a second faster than I had in the race, and on average I was 2.5 seconds faster every lap for the rest of the day.

It was a relief for me and the team, but it was too late to really matter.

Ellison is the only Briton competing in MotoGP this season

Since Jerez, I've travelled to a small town near St Tropez, where Tech3's workshop is based, and lived behind the workshop in my motorhome.

The weather and the area here is perfect for training.

I've been running, rollerblading, mountain biking and road cycling since I arrived so I think I'll call this home for the rest of the year now.

Next stop is Qatar, for the second race of the campaign on Saturday.

I'm sure we'll do a lot better than we did in Spain, and hopefully we'll give British fans something to cheer about.

Wish me luck!