Eugene Laverty adopts winner takes all mindset as World Superbike star bids to retain his BMW seat in 2021

Eugene Laverty admits he will be forced to alter his strategy completely when the 2020 World Superbike Championship resumes in his bid to retain his seat with the factory BMW Motorrad squad next season.
Eugene Laverty faces a battle to retain his seat with the factory BMW Motorrad World Superbike team in 2021.Eugene Laverty faces a battle to retain his seat with the factory BMW Motorrad World Superbike team in 2021.
Eugene Laverty faces a battle to retain his seat with the factory BMW Motorrad World Superbike team in 2021.

Last week’s announcement that Dutch rider Michael van der Mark had been signed by team boss Shaun Muir for 2021 to ride the S1000RR has pitted the Northern Ireland star against current team-mate and old sparring partner Tom Sykes, with both riders fighting to secure the final place.

Laverty, the 2013 championship runner-up, joined BMW for 2020 and endured a frustrating debut at Phillip Island in Australia back in March, when a crash in morning warm-up ruled him out of both Sunday races.

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The 34-year-old, who finished 11th in race one, said his plan was to focus on developing the BMW into a race winner this year before launching a title challenge in 2021.

Northern Ireland's Eugene Laverty in action at the opening round of the 2020 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.Northern Ireland's Eugene Laverty in action at the opening round of the 2020 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.
Northern Ireland's Eugene Laverty in action at the opening round of the 2020 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.

Laverty, though, now says he will simply ‘get on the bike and wring its neck’ when the season resumes at Jerez in Spain (July 31-August 2).

“The best thing I can do is perform on track. It does change my approach a little bit because, in winter testing I looked at this project long term,” said the Toome man.

“When I got on the bike, I realised quite early that it wasn’t ready to fight for the Championship in 2020. I focused on getting the bike ready for race wins in 2020 and a title challenge in 2021. We’ve missed more than half the season, so my approach does have to change, I have to forget about trying to bring the bike forward and deliver those results.

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“That sounds strange, I guess, to a fan looking at things from the outside as that should be the obvious thing. You have to be patient if you want a bike that can be an all-round race winning package, you have to be analytical and go through things step-by-step,” added Laverty, speaking during a World Superbikes Instagram live chat.

“That’s gone out the window now as we need to get results, so I’ll get on the bike and wring its neck.”

After riding a Ducati V4-R last year for Team Go Eleven, Laverty had has little time so far to adjust to the different characteristics of the BMW S1000RR, which he describes as a ‘rough diamond’.

“My initial impressions were good in terms of the chassis and how the bike turns, and that’s something as riders we’re always chasing. Tight corners, long corners, the bike does make its way around the track pretty well,” he said.

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“I knew from the first time I rode it I knew it was a bit of a rough diamond in terms of power delivery and electronic strategy. That’s what we spend our time doing in wintertime and even Round 1 and that’s why we were looking at the long game; getting things ready so the bike would be better at the end of the season.

“Unfortunately, with the way things have turned out, we haven’t been able to do that. There’s only been one round so far and we’re already in July.”

Laverty’s key rivals during his world championship career include Yorkshireman Sykes, who beat him to the World Superbike title seven years ago, but the Co. Antrim rider has no hesitation in picking five-time World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu as his toughest adversary.

“Definitely Kenan, without doubt, because he was such a fierce rival. I’ve raced against a lot of tough guys, but I knew even that year, that on-track, Kenan was one of the toughest guys to beat so if you beat him in a last-lap fight, you’d beaten one of the best guys,” said Laverty, who finished as the runner-up in the World Supersport championship behind Sofuoglu in 2010.

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“The things Kenan could do… Toprak [Razgatlioglu] reminds me of him now. What Toprak did on the last lap of Magny-Cours last year, where he caught Jonny [Rea] up and overtook him, that’s the sort of thing Kenan would’ve done. That never say die attitude, they never gave in.

“Kenan taught me a lot, he made me a late braker and made me tougher in a last lap battle. After Kenan I was ready for Marco Melandri in Superbike because Marco and I used to have fierce battles as well.

“They were probably my two biggest rivals in my career and my best memories.”

Laverty and compatriot Jonathan Rea are participating in a two-day test at Catalunya in Barcelona, which concludes on Thursday.

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