Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty had a mixed start to his World Superbike campaign at Imola today. The first free practice session did not go to plan as the rider experienced electrical issues and only completed a handful of flying laps. Then FP2 was cut short because of a broken drain cover at the track, meaning that the Irishman only did a total of nineteen laps throughout the entire day.
Laverty finished the day's sessions in eighth place. His fastest time of 1'49.259 was set on his ninth, and final, lap of the session. Laverty was just about to return to the track with fresh rubber when the second red flag was brought out and all further track activity was cancelled.
The morning's initial practice was all but redundant for the Suzuki racer, after an electronics issue saw him set just three flying laps, but with the situation resolved the team was confident of improving further as the afternoon progressed, now the rider is thinking positive looking ahead to tomorrow’s activities.
"How many timed laps did we do today, maybe six proper flying laps? We didn't get anything done in the first practice with the electrical problem we had, and then in the second practice the activity was cancelled with 13 minutes left,” said Laverty.
“The bike is feeling quite good considering we haven't done any laps yet and we're not too far away, so I'm looking forward to actually starting some real work tomorrow morning."
