News

Laverty makes the breakthrough at Portimao

Sunday, 24 January 2010 14:42 GMT
Eugene Laverty (Honda Team Parkalgar) finally made the breakthrough he had been looking for in the three-day World Supersport test at Portimao as he knocked Spain's Joan Lascorz off the top slot towards the end of the final session.


Last year's championship runner-up lapped the Algarve circuit in 1 minute 45.104 seconds, a fraction quicker than Lascorz's lap record, set last October. The circuit best lap of 1'44.836 remains in the hands of Laverty, with his 2009 pole time.


The Irishman was the only one of the leading group to improve in the sixth session and he ended up a tenth quicker than Lascorz, who had dominated Friday and Saturday. Third place, with a time of 1'45.587, went to an impressive Michele Pirro, the Italian putting in some serious lap time on his new Hannspree Ten Kate Honda mount. Team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu was unable to take part in the test as the Turk will still require more recovery time for his fractured left ankle.


Sixth place went to Chaz Davies on the Triumph 675 in 1'46.988, while on the same BE1 Racing machine American rookie Jason DiSalvo also eased his way into the picture with tenth quickest time of 1'47.054.


Kuja Racing Honda's Paolo Cazzola, the first woman to take part full-time in the world championship, finished in a respectable 13th place on her debut.