You are here

Laverty: "In SBK to become world champion"

The Irish rider leaves MotoGP to return to the Aprilia SBK on which he was runner-up in 2013

Laverty: "In SBK to become world champion"

Share


“Sometimes they come back”, as they say and it's true: Eugene Laverty, 30, will return to the SBK championship next season, having raced in the series from 2011 to 2014 with three different bikes, Yamaha, Aprilia and Suzuki. The talented Irish rider will again ride an Aprilia RSV4, in the new team that Milwaukee will form, abandoning their current BMW S1000 RR.

Despite the fact that Eugene is enjoying a great MotoGP season on the Ducati Desmosedici of customer team Aspar, the desire to return to the category that launched him and saw him score race wins and podiums is strong, especially on a bike that is still so competitive: I'm excited to return to racing in SBK next season, because I've won many races in that championship and spent a long period of my career there; during my two years in MotoGP I've learned a great deal, there have been some very difficult times but I've grown a lot as a rider and now it's time to look to the future in terms of my racing career”.

In effect, Laverty has won 13 races in SBK (as well as 12 Supersport victories, a category in which he battled for the title against Cal Crutchlow), riding three bikes, with two of the races being particular standouts: his double win in 2011 at Monza where, on the Yamaha R1, he left his rivals for dust, and the 2013 win at Jerez on board the Aprilia, which included a spectacular pass, on the final lap, around the outside of Melandri through the final corner before the finish line. The 2013 season was one in which he fought for the title against his friend/rival Tom Sykes, losing out to the English Kawasaki rider.

These are precisely the kind of races that Laverty wants to return to or, at least, he'd like to have that chance when the lights go out: I'm very motivated because in the last two years in MotoGP I've battled mid-pack, trying to learn as much as possible; but going back to a factory Aprilia and knowing that I'll be able to fight for the title, means I have a very different mental approach as I prepare for this new adventure”.

But SBK in 2017 won't exactly be a walk in the park, far from it, and Eugene is well aware of this: “next season will be an exciting one, because in addition to the very strong riders already competing in SBK, there will be others like me and Bradl. Now the best rider, the man to beat, is Johnny Rea, the title holder and the current leader, but I want to return to SBK with just one goal: to become world champion”.

Translated by Heather Watson
__

Related articles