Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty is looking to improve on his early race pace at this weekend’s Magny-Cours World Superbike round and find a solution to his struggles with a full fuel tank.

The Irishman, who will move into MotoGP next season, has been strong during practice all year but just hasn’t been able to translate it into the race on a consistent basis, usually hampered by the extra weight of full fuel load on new tyres.

“I really expected podium finishes last time out in Jerez so I left feeling very disappointed. We need to find a way to transform our strong pace in practice into race pace. It’s no secret that we have struggled to match the others on new tyres and a full tank of fuel and I hope we can make improvements in this area for Magny-Cours,” said Laverty.

“We’ve found a much better clutch setting though, allowing me to make consistently good starts and that’s a huge positive. My aim is to qualify on the front two rows at Magny-Cours, make a good start and then fight with all my might.”