Vice-World Superbike Champion in 2013 on Aprilia, after having been twice in Supersport on Honda in 2009 and 2010, Eugene Laverty is a very versatile rider who has exceptional experience.
The 33-year-old Irishman raced in GP 125, 250 and MotoGP, within the Aspar Racing Team for the latter category, on an RC213V-RS, then a Ducati Desmosedici GP14.2, with a best result of fourth place. of the Argentine GP in 2016, behind Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi et Dani Pedrosa.
In Superbike, Eugene rode Yamaha, Suzuki and Aprilia, then last year on a private Ducati Panigale V4 R of the Go Eleven team, which earned him a modest fifteenth place in the final standings two points behind Markus Reiterberger, who He had a factory BMW.
BMW considered that Reiterberger did not have world level and directed him towards the Asian Championship and endurance (Sepang 8H) and recruited Laverty to replace him. Eugene, who saw himself rather poorly for the 2020 season, was pleasantly surprised and moved from his small private team to the colossal official German structure.
He thus participated in the recent Jerez and Portimao tests with his new teammate Tom Sykes, before flying to Australia where he will soon compete in the first race of the year.
“It went a lot better than I expected, honestly, explained Eugene about the tests. I knew they had been working on the bike for two months, but I didn't expect the progress to be so fast. »
“It was a bit lively in the first test and I was a bit surprised because I knew the bike was good in terms of entering corners. »
“As a rival, the things I saw on the track ticked all the boxes for me, but you don't know what's going on until you ride on it, so I was surprised by how lively it was of motorcycle. »
“In Jerez, with the weather, we just worked, taking two precious days to get in and out of the pits, to do testing. It was hard work because in the wet, with the power and traction control the way it was, I never knew what I was going to get. I had some awesome moments. »
“We knew after those two days the progress we had made was pretty good. At the end of Jerez we had a semi-dry track. We spent most of the time working on the traction control as there is a lot of power down low and this may have been more noticeable to me coming from another manufacturer than to Tom who had ridden it all year and who perhaps hadn't noticed that he was gradually becoming more like that.
“We then knew what we needed to work on and the traction control took leaps and bounds. Now I think we are within reach of the other guys. I would like to improve the deceleration. The bike doesn't stop as much as I would like in the latter part of braking. »
“In a straight line it seemed to be going quite well but in Portimão the radar that measures speed was in the braking zone. In Jerez, it all depends on how you arrive on the back straight. Power-wise, I think we're good, but it wasn't something I was worried about. »
“I think we focused on last year because they started with the original engine, but it's a lot more powerful now. »
Photos © BMW
source: bikesportnews.com
