Voltcom Suzuki's Eugene Laverty has declared it is time for him to lose his bridesmaid's dress and improve on his three world championship runner-up spots by mounting a serious challenge for the 2014 World Superbike Championship.

The Irishman is confident he can make some serious headway with the GSX-R1000 this season after making huge leaps forward in testing at Almeria and Portimao, and says he is out to take the title away from Tom Sykes.

"I want to win races and challenge for the championship. Last year I finished runner-up so I stayed in World Superbikes to win the title. I have finished runner-up three times now, twice in World Supersport and once in World Superbike, so it's time to get rid of this bridesmaid's dress I have been wearing for a while," said Laverty.

"It's definitely a different bike to the one I have been used to with a different style of engine. I was riding it completely wrong for the first 15 laps around Jerez, like an amateur, a gear too high in every corner until I came back into the garage and the guys said I might want to rev the thing.

"The work the boys did between Jerez and Portimao was incredible. I knew we needed to work and I wasn't sure we could be ready for round one but what arrived for the test in the middle of January was incredible and I couldn't have asked for any more. Now it is just a question of getting the bike to suit me a little more."