Laverty looks to improve MotoGP qualifying times

Eugene Laverty says he needs to become a '˜Saturday man' as well as a strong performer on race day in the MotoGP World Championship after the Aspar Ducati rider scored more strong points at Le Mans in France yesterday.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Feb 2019, 14:03 GMT

Eugene Laverty in action during Sunday's MotoGP round at Le Mans. Picture: Bonnie Lane.

Laverty narrowly missed his target of a top ten finish as he crossed the line in 11th place and feels he needs to improve his pace over a single qualifying lap to enhance his prospects of finishing regularly inside the top ten.

“I made a decent start and I was up there with [Danilo] Petrucci and [Hector] Barbera and then I started to feel there was something wrong with the bike,” Laverty said.

“From that point it was just a case of bringing it home. My good fortune in a way was the misfortune of other riders because I was still able to come through and pick up five points.

“Looking to the future, we need to improve our performance over one lap in qualifying, to be in that top ten or 12.

“Our race pace today was the same as Petrucci but he made it into Q2 and that makes a big difference,” he added.

“It seems this year I’m a Sunday man but I need to be a Saturday man too,” he added.