Eugene Laverty says he doesn’t miss the pressure of competing in motorcycle racing as he gets stuck into his second season in his role as partner and rider coach for the Bonovo Action Racing BMW team in the WorldSBK Championship.

The Irishman - runner-up to Tom Sykes in the race for the 2013 WorldSBK Championship and former MotoGP rider - brought his racing career to an end at the conclusion of the 2022 WorldSBK season after accepting an offer from Bonovo Racing (MGM Racing) boss Jurgen Roder to become a part of its management structure.

Laverty had been racing with the German team - which has been competing in WorldSBK as BMW’s official satellite partner since 2021 - at the time of the decision having previously raced with Yamaha and Aprilia during a WorldSBK career stretching back to 2010.

Speaking to BBC Sport Northern Ireland, Laverty confesses he is missing being part of the action, but says he would like to get out there too.

"It's a pleasant transition. I have time to get familiar with it because the current team manager is still there. So I can look at how things work in peace.

"However, I miss riding, as I had feared. I don't really miss the competition, because that didn't go very well in the last years of my career.”

Bonovo Action Racing enjoyed a solid start to the 2024 WorldSBK season with Garrett Gerloff and Scott Redding picking up a handful of points apiece. 

However, Laverty feels the team has all the ingredients to be a force in WorldSBK and feels victories with the American-British pairing is possible in 2024.

"Together with the ROKiT team, four drivers sit on identical motorcycles. Since both BMW teams have access to the same material, we will closely monitor each other. We want to be nice to each other, but we will try to be the better BMW team, that's clear.

"Scott has moved to us and he is the one who had a lot of success with the BMW - he had several podium places with the motorcycle. Garrett was the best BMW driver in 2023 and Scott two years ago, so we have a very strong line-up. 

“Our motorcycle is getting stronger and stronger and is hopefully good enough for victories this year. There will be racetracks where we will stumble, but there are other tracks like Donington Park and Magny-Cours where we can win."