New BMW M1000RR engine ‘golden’ for Laverty

Eugene Laverty has seen huge improvements with his WorldSBK BMW and is making progress as he gears up for another WorldSBK test at Barcelona this weekend.

Two days at Misano World Circuit last week, alongside fellow M1000RR riders Loris Baz and Scott Redding - after Michael van der Mark fractured his leg in a mountain bike accident - leaves Laverty confident of improvements ahead of the upcoming two at Barcelona-Catalunya.

“The main thing was the new engine, we’ve been waiting a while for that and that was golden from the first laps,” Laverty told Bikesportnews.com before he heads to Spain for the next stage of pre-season preparation.

“Just to feel how strong the engine was off the bottom, and also top end as the thing just keeps on going. That gives us a chance in battle.

“The other thing was trying to improve the turning of the bike mid-corner because that’s something that I really struggled with at Jerez, which we did find on the afternoon of day two. I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike, because I’m a smaller rider compared to the other three so obviously need something different to them.”

One thing the Northern Irish rider is still struggling with is trail braking, an issue he’s faced since joining the German manufacturer in 2020.

“That issue’s been there since the very first time I rode the bike, the first five laps that was a comment and that’s not an area we’ve been able to make any inroads on at all,” he confirmed. “It’s quite baffling. To the point that I’ve almost accepted that it’s on the back burner for now, I really don’t know how to improve that. The bike doesn’t stop on final entry when you lean into the corner, especially when you start to lean in you expect the bike to decelerate with the rear tyre