Ian Hutchinson “in the depths of despair” before MLav Racing project

MLav Racing’s expansion into Superbike racing came at the right time for Ian Hutchinson, according to Michael Laverty.

The former British Champion racer turned team owner and TNT Sports MotoGP expert said that he had no expectations for Hutchinson, who was brought onto his MLav Racing team earlier this year as it announced an expansion into short circuit Superbike racing as well as road racing, given the struggles the 16-time TT winner has been through in recent years; from a complicated leg break at the TT in 2017 to a stroke and resultant one-year suspension of his racing licence in 2023.

“There was no expectation with Ian [Hutchinson] because of the seven or eight years that he’s been through,” Laverty said in an interview with Crash.net on Friday at the British MotoGP.

“The last year’s been tough for him, but I always believed in his talent and his drive that knows no bounds, so I thought it was worth a shot.

“He was sort of in the depths of despair at the end of last year, he had a tough year, and it’s nice to see it come around.

“We’ve tried to give him the bikes and crew that he wanted, and he delivered straight away at the North West [200]. It was amazing.”

Laverty added, as a first-year team owner in road racing, that he’s “really nervous” ahead of the TT, but that Hutchinson is “full of confidence”.

“Because it’s our first venture into road racing, and then we go to the [Isle of Man] TT, and I’m really nervous as a team owner because I know it’s a dangerous mistress,” he said.

“You have to be careful with it.

“He’s [Hutchinson] going there full of confidence, he’s got everything that he wants, and fingers crossed it all goes well.

“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but the fact he went to Donington [to race National Superstock] last week and qualified on the second row – and he’s not qualified on the second row of a [National] Superstock race since 2016, so on the circuits he’s really on form as well.

“He’s in a good place, fingers crossed it works out [at the TT].”

Laverty added that Hutchinson has worked hard to make the MLav Racing project work, getting involved in the bike preparation.

“He’s put a lot of work in, so even on the Supersport bike he’s been at the dyno the last few days,” Laverty said.

“He’s quite a handy mechanic himself. Our team is quite bare bones, so we don’t have a lot of full-time staff on the Superbike thing, most of our staff are JuniorGP or Grand Prix and with all five teams we’re spread quite thin; so he’s not scared to throw the bike in the van and [work on] the dyno.

“Fair play, he’s been getting stuck in.

“Even to do Donington, we had no plans to do it, we [planned to] do the [BSB] preseason tests, do [round one], do the North West, [and then go] straight to the TT.

“But he said ‘I need a couple more days on the bike to get the electronics fine tuned,’ and I said [he could] go and do a track day at Cadwell [Park], and I can send the crew. But he said ‘No, it has to be race trim.’ I [didn’t have] mechanics for him, but he said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll mechanic it myself.’

“He was on the tools all weekend; he was on the phone to BMW Germany, just working through the electronics. Fair play.

“Yes, we’ve given him the tools and funding, but he’s really dug deep to find that extra little bit and got stuck in.

“I hope it really does work out for him, it would be a nice fairytale for him to be back on the podium for the TT.”