Although it has yet to be offically announced by Shaun Muir, Tom Sykes will join his team alongside Markus Reiterberger on works BMWs for the 2019 WorldSBK series.

The news leaves Eugene Laverty - who many thought a shoo-in to keep his seat - looking for work at a very late stage in the seat-grabbing process and only the second Red Bull Honda is available. Well, it's the only available one worth having.

Sykes has secured the BMW job after being moved out of the Kawasaki team to make room for Leon Haslam. It had been thought his wage demands had been too high for Muir's operation but a late deal has been struck.

Laverty will be in a queue, albeit at the front, for the second Honda job and big chief Chris Pike will be able to drive down wages due to the demand. Pike will also have Loris Baz, Lorenzo Savadori, Marco Melandri, Jordi Torres, Xavi Fores and several others all battering down his door for the last decent seat.

It's a tough gig for Laverty who has been unable to make the Aprilia work consistently despite there being a huge amount of turd polishing by his crew, led by long-time crew chief Phil Marron - who may well remain with SMR as he needs to pay the bills.