WorldSBK Misano: Laverty to work on tyre useage

Bonovo BMW’s Eugene Laverty will work on ways to get the best from his rear Pirelli over race distance at this weekend’s Misano WorldSBK round.

The Irishman, who is about nine stone soaking wet, can find pace over a lap but pulling optimum performance from the tyre over a race distance is more difficult and it may be because he just isn’t heavy enough.

“I am looking forward to Misano. We tested there in the winter and the bike felt good. That was also the case at the last race weekend in Estoril, we qualified in the top three rows and the pace with fresh tyres was good,” said Laverty.

“But over the race distance I was not able to get the tyre to work for a few laps. We will now see how it is in Misano. My crew chief has a few ideas that should allow me to use the tyre better. I am not particularly heavy, so maybe I could use a backpack, or maybe I should have to take someone on my back to get more pressure on the rear tyre - but let’s wait and see.

“I am very happy with our progress, but the key is the race, the key is to be fast over 21 laps. That is my goal for Misano.”