After placing himself on the front row of the grid in the Argentinian WorldSBK qualifying, Eugene Laverty had his eyes firmly set on a podium finish.
Race 1 – and Eugene got off to a difficult start, seeing him drop two places to P5 after a near collision with No.7 Davies and 66 of Tom Sykes. Laverty however settled into a good rhythm early on and managed regain a position with a slip-streaming move on Lowes down the back straight for P4. Closing the gap to Tom Sykes in P3, Eugene replicated his previous move putting him into a rostrum position.
Eugene’s pace seemed to drop after lap 7 and with a charging Razgatlioglu behind him he dropped a position going into T1 on Lap 13. With Toprak, Laverty and Sykes battling it out for P3 this gave an opportunity for Spaniard Fores to close the gap on the trio and on the penultimate lap managed to edge out Eugene for P4. Final Race position P5. 11 Points
Eugene Laverty crashed out of second place on lap 3 of the second race of the weekend. Despite getting a good start Eugene couldn’t match the pace of pole sitter Fores and lost the front going into T6 prematurely ending his race.
The final race of the 2018 WSBK season will take place at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar on the 25/10/18.
Eugene Laverty #50 – Aprilia RSV4-RF
Race 1 grid: P3 – Row 1 Race 1 result: P5 – 11 points Race 2 grid: P2 – Row 1
Race 2 result: DNF – 0 Points
“We were riding so strong in Race 1 and to just miss out 3rd is of course disappointing. The second half of the race was tough as the balance of the bike wasn’t quite right but we had some good information to build on for Sunday’s race. I’m disappointed to crash out of race 1 so early. Xavi Fores was so fast in the early laps I couldn’t match his pace at the start so I had to ride at my own rhythm and I just lost the front going into T6. We knew from superpole that if the track rose above 50°c that the front tyre would be sketchy and that ultimately caught us out today. We’ve been getting stronger and stronger since my injury so let’s keep this momentum going and finish the season on a high in Qatar.”