Aprilia's Eugene Laverty has typically played down his first World Superbike win for the works team, saying it shows the potential he and the bike have when everything runs as it should.

The Irishman opened up a huge lead in the second race at Portimao yesterday which settled down to two seconds and was only pegged back when Laverty knocked the pace back and Jonathan Rea closed in on the final two laps.

"My first win with and for Aprilia came on my favourite track with a lot of my fans trackside, who I'd like to thank. Grip in race two wasn't perfect. I tried to push hard right away to gain an advantage and then I was able to maintain it to the end. This year we had some difficult moments, like we had in race one today, but we're finally showing our potential with some good progress at the end of the season," said Laverty.