After a difficult season, the Team Goeleven Ducati squad ending on a high with a season-best finish of sixth place, after a magnificent comeback ride in the late stages of Race 2 from Eugene Laverty. The Irishman fought through from ninth place to finish inside the top six and just 15.1s off the win, the closest he and the team have been after a full-distance race all season.

A season marred and blighted by a double wrist break at Imola, Laverty’s tenacity saw him return to the top ten in Race 1 at Magny-Cours, before ending the season with four consecutive top ten performances, the best streak for the Italian team since stepping up to the FIM Superbike World Championship in 2015, despite having had a strong paddock presence since 2008.

Speaking about the final round of the 2019 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Laverty said: “To finish in sixth positions in the last race of the year and equal our best result it's a fantastic season finale! We have always been coming strong at the end of the races; we saw that in Argentina and again this weekend, so maybe with a couple of laps more we could fight for P4. We showed that we have the pace. It was disappointing what happened in Lap 1 when Michael Rinaldi overtook me and pushed me out of the track back to fourteen position; that hurt our race but it's racing. Thank you to entire Team for never give up and we got there again!”

Whilst Laverty moves on to the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team for 2020, Team Goeleven are yet to confirm their line-up. However, Dennis Sacchetti, team manager, was happy with the end of the 2019 season: “Another season has come to an end and after tonight's race it remains a big regret; what could we have done if Eugene hadn't been injured at Imola? The team worked well and was able to find a solution that would allow Laverty to ride strong, after the contact on the first lap we made a great comeback, Eugene made us stay with our heart in our throat until the last corner!

“In the pits we could smell the victory as an Independent Team, but the change of positions with Haslam and van Der Mark at the end made us lose those decisive seven tenths. I thank Eugene for the great season finale and the whole of Team Goeleven that has always given his best for the entire 2019 season.”

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