News

New Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Eugene Laverty visited his new team's workshops at Gerno di Lesmo in Italy recently. Having completed his first test on the bike following the final round of the 2010 championship at Magny-Cours, and going fastest to boot, Laverty had the opportunity to see firsthand the mechanics in the workshops, which are based close to the Monza WSBK circuit.

There was also a chance for him to meet some of the team members not usually present at the race weekends, and get a deeper insight into the team's operations.

"It was nice to spend the day at the workshop and meet the guys who don't always come to the race track," said Eugene. "We also studied some data with Frankie, my crew chief, from the first test in Magny-Cours and looked at where we can improve. It gave me some good information to understand what I need to do differently and work on at the next test. It has all been really positive and a great opportunity to do it away from the racetrack, with no pressure. The workshops were really impressive and I got to see everything, you can tell it's very well organized. I'm really looking to getting on the 2011 racebike for the first time next week at Valencia and then Phillip Island at the end of the month, to get cracking again."

Laverty is twice-runner-up in the Supersport World Championship, by a narrow margin on each occasion.