Ireland's Eugene Laverty has had his first ride out on Max Biaggi's works Aprilia RSV4 which will ride in the 2012 and 2013 World Superbike Championships at Portimao this morning.

The Irishman, who tied for third place in this year's series, is working out of the Pata Aprilia camp today but is riding an RSV4 with no livery and is in plain Alpinestars leathers. Laverty had a choice between the Aprilia ride or moving to the BMW Italia team but wanted a bike that was a proven winner out of the box instead of taking time to develop the satellite S1000RR.