Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty was surprised that he ended up on the front row for tomorrow’s World Superbike races at Moscow Speedway, after branding the Superpole sessions as ‘chaotic’.

The changing weather conditions meant that the rider had to find time to adapt to the different track conditions for qualifying, and also had to contend with the changes that were made to his bike at the official test sessions at Imola a few weeks ago.

The three Superpole sessions were held on a dry track with both the Aprilia Racing Team riders making it to Superpole three and therefore in the running for a spot in the first three rows. Laverty’s team-mate Sylvain Guintoli had to use his two soft tyres straight away with the goal of qualifying among the top nine, whereas the Irishman came easily through the first session to then make an assault for pole position.

Laverty was third fastest when the chequered flag came out, and clocked his best time on race tyres. The rider is now confident with the alterations made to his bike. He has adapted well to the Russian circuit, and is aiming for a good result on Sunday.

"This was a difficult Superpole, quite chaotic, and in the end I'm a bit surprised with this third place. My pace yesterday and in the wet was very good and it took a few laps in Superpole to adapt to the new track conditions in order to push to the limit," said Laverty.

"The changes we made to my RSV4 during the test sessions after the Imola race also took a little getting used to, but in any case the bike is working well and with the right adjustments my feeling with it leaves me confident for tomorrow's races”.