Aspar Honda’s Eugene Laverty has finally spent time with the new swingarm he has been after at the Assen MotoGP round and said it has big potential over the course of a race distance as he now has grip stability when the rear tyre goes off.

Laverty did a back-to-back comparison with the old and new units in Holland and made a jump of 1.2s over a lap but the important thing for the Monegasque is the new swingarm finds grip as the tyre degrades.

“I wanted to back-to-back it properly, so I used it on one bike and then moved across to the other. It took until the afternoon to work out what it needed balance-wise, it is a different feeling but there is big potential,” said Laverty, speaking at the track.

“We made a really good step, 1.2s, so that was a nice thing. On a tyre with 20 laps, it was easier than with a new tyre because often on this bike it is easier on a new tyre and, come the race, the bike becomes difficult on the used tyre.

“That swingarm has given me exactly what I have been looking for, the stability. I saw some differences on the single lap but mostly where I have been looking. For example in Barcelona, I did laps five to 15 on the same time but suddenly in the last part of the race, the problem appeared again.

"Obviously we are not going to perform miracles in one day, we need to go step by step but the first impressions are positive. The grip in corner entry is incredible. We improved considerably from one session to the other and managed to set some consistent laps. The bike is easier to ride now, I am more comfortable in the fast corners and I can follow other riders, which is useful for us to know exactly where we're at. I am going to give racing the soft tyre a go.”