British 250GP Eugene Laverty wll get the chance to prove his mettle on a four-stroke World Supersport bike at Donington Park when he stands in for the injured Fabien Foret.

Laverty, currently on a Blusens Aprilia in the MotoGP support class, will also ride the bike at the following Vallelunga round.

“I’m really excited at the chance to ride a competitive Supersport machine," said the 22-year-old. "Two years of riding underpowered bikes has led to two difficult seasons for me. For Yamaha to pick me up and offer this opportunity is fantastic, I’m over the moon! I can’t wait to get to Donington and start working with the team to set up and get out on track.”

Yamaha team manager Wilco Zeelenberg said: "We were impressed with Karl Harris’ performance on the bike at Brands, it confirms for us that our bike is competitive even when we have someone not familiar with it. Karl rode well, however whilst Fabien is recovering this is a good opportunity for us to trial different riders. Donington is also more of a top power track compared to Brands which means Karl’s physical size and weight may have been more of an issue whilst Eugene is a very lightweight rider so should have an edge .

“Looking back to Eugene’s British Supersport rides he was keenly in competition with top riders like Crutchlow and Sykes, proving he’s a talented 4 stroke rider with strong Supersport credentials. With Donington coming up we wanted to keep using an English rider with excellent local track knowledge, which he has.”