Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty is still struggling to find a solution to his setup problems on a new tyre and says he feels like a broken record after saying the same thing at every race meeting.

The Irishman is struggling stop the rear of his GSX-R1000 squatting and on a new tyre with a full tank of fuel, the issue is exacerbated so yesterday’s World Superbike Superpole turned into a tough session after Laverty had been in the free practice top four for most of the weekend.

"Throughout the whole weekend we have been top four and within ourselves. We have complained about it all year with a new tyre or full tank of fuel on the bike on the rear, with the qualifier we had more grip and same old story, but with that I still expected us to be better, but then we had problems with engine braking - it was bizarre,” said Laverty, speaking to bikesportnews.com at Portimao last night.

“It became like a streetbike, it was locking everywhere. There has been a lot of talk about our engine braking, more from Alex's side of the garage as I haven't had any problems with it apart from Imola and aside from that it has been grand, but we had problems with it this morning and we had to sit out the end of the session because something broke.

“I am not sure if it was a sensor problem I don't know - it's a pain in the arse. It's not like we have a good clutch to get off the line, so that's why Superpole is so important for us, as the clutch is far from correct. It makes it hard for us, but this morning it was race-winning pace that we were showing, now it’s hard work from where we are at.”

Laverty has shown that on a worn tyre, he is able to work his way through the field and set fastest laps but at Portimao from seventh on the grid, it might prove a step too far as he says the tyre won’t come to him for at least five laps.

"It might be too late by then. This has always been the problem with this bike. We are trying to go back to settings which are similar to when we tested here. But it just sits on its ass and it’s something that needs fixing - it has been my problem all year and I feel like a broken record.

"We have tried everything - it's a fundamental problem, the more worn the tyre the better the bike will be. If we were here four years ago with this bike, when Pirelli were not so good, we would be right there.

“The problem is Pirelli have made a good tyre - we need everybody to start on half a tank of fuel and used tyres, that's the problem and there is going to have to be a way to fix it. It's not a bad thing having too much grip we just need to find a way to use it and the guys haven't been able to do that for me yet.”