Laverty excited to try 2015 Honda

"This is the bike that I'm going to be racing, so this is the one I've been looking forward to" - Eugene Laverty.

03 Feb 2015

Eugene Laverty will ride his 2015 MotoGP race bike for the first time during testing at Sepang on Wednesday.

The World Superbike star is moving to MotoGP with the Drive M7 Aspar team, but is the only one of the four Open class Honda competitors yet to try the new, factory powered, RC213V-RS machine.

Team-mate Nicky Hayden and Cardion AB's Karel Abraham made their 'RS' debut at November's Valencia test, when Laverty and fellow rookie Jack Miller (LCR) rode last season's RCV1000R machine.

Miller then tried the RS in a private test at Sepang later that month, with Laverty getting his chance during the start of official 2015 testing at the Malaysian circuit on Wednesday.

"This is the bike that I'm going to be racing, so this is the one I've been looking forward to," said Laverty, speaking in the Aspar pits on Tuesday. "It was nice in Valencia to get a feeling for the bike, team and tyres. But this is the bike that I signed up for and I'm excited to ride it.

"I was having a look around it and it's a step above what we had [at Valencia]. I'll let you know better tomorrow afternoon, the look isn't as important as the performance!"

Laverty feels that Miller's extra track time will be of benefit to all the Open Honda riders, since the standard ECU system is now much more suited to the pneumatic-valve engine.

"I think that was good for me, because the bike was still a work in progress in Valencia, then at Jack's test - speaking to Jack - it seems the bike is nearly there now," he said.

In terms of his plans for this week, Laverty explained: "It's a progression from Valencia where I was still getting comfortable. The bike is so much smaller and lower to the ground and I need to work on my riding. Towards the end of the three days we'll be adjusting the bike, but first I have to adjust myself to the bike."

"The rear tyre especially is different so that take some getting used to. But I like the feeling. The MotoGP bike is more stable, has less movement, but is very different to what I'm used to. It's nice to ride here in these temperatures and not have to worry about cold tyres for example.

"In Superbike we only ever had six weeks off and now it's been two months... I'll find out tomorrow but I think it's going to feel pretty fast at the end of the straight!"

Eugene's brother Michael - who raced with PBM for the last two seasons - will also be on track at the test, in his new role as an Aprilia development rider.