PBM Aprilia’s Michael Laverty is still looking for a little more edge grip from his GPMS-framed MotoGP steed but said that after the weekend’s test at Qatar, they are much faster than they were last season.
The Irishman, who enters his second season in the premier class, spent most of the three days in the desert working on mechanical grip and chassis settings, but also spent some time on electronics.
“We’re hoping to have some new engines in time for race one. We took some good steps forward with the bike at Qatar, mainly with the chassis setting and a little with the electronics, but we’re much faster than were this time last year,” said Laverty.
“We’ve got a better front-end feel through the fast right hander so it will be easier to link them up. The feeling is a lot better and the laptimes is a lot better. There are a couple of areas where we need improvement but it is going reasonably well.
“We need to settle the rear of the bike a little more and get it to turn on the side of the tyre, and there is a lot of that at Qatar. We have done short runs and chassis changes to understand the differences. We have made good progress.”
Laverty's fastest from the Qatar test was 1'57.860 compared to his pole time from last year of 1'59.572. Aleix Espargaro, on the Open class satellite Yamaha M1, set a 1'54.874 to claim to spot.
