Aprilia's Eugene Laverty could only muster a 14th place in today's World Superbike Superpole at Silverstone after front-end problems with his RSV4 had it feeling like the steering damper had failed.

Laverty had finished ninth in combined qualifying and looked set for a good start slot but right from the start of the final timed session, he was unable to set a meaningful laptime and goes from row four tomorrow.

“We had a problem with the front of the bike from the beginning of Superpole, it felt like the steering dumper was broken. Otherwise the bike was feeling OK in the wet so it’s unfortunate that this problem stopped me from pushing. We’ll start from the fourth row of the grid and so a good start will be vital," said Laverty.