Eugene Laverty expects BMW WorldSBK wins ‘sooner rather than later'

Eugene Laverty insists the BMW S1000RR has ‘huge potential’ and will be challenging for race wins this season when the 2020 WorldSBK Championship can get back underway.

The Irishman, runner-up in 2013, returns to the Shaun Muir Racing fold for 2020 alongside Tom Sykes in the factory-backed BMW Motorrad WorldSBK.

Unlike most series’, WorldSBK did manage to get a round underway in Australia before the coronavirus pandemic worsened, though it was a tough opener for Laverty with an 11th place in race one before an accident during warm-up ruled him out of Sunday’s races entirely.

Despite the stuttering start, Laverty nonetheless has positive impressions of the BMW S1000RR, calling it a ‘rough penny’ that he thinks has the potential to be winning races ‘sooner rather than later’.

“When I first rode the bike in November, it was very raw. The potential of the bike was huge immediately. I was surprised how much of a rough penny it was in terms of fine details. The progress being made was sensational. This is a project I want to be involved in long term and BMW are going to be winning races sooner rather than later.”

Despite Sykes scoring a dominant Superpole on Saturday afternoon and initially leading Race 1, it was otherwise a difficult opening round for BMW with a best finish of sixth position in the Superpole Race.

Though BMW has maintained a constant presence in WorldSBK since 2009, the 2019 season marked its first full-factory effort since 2013, the year of the manufacturer’s last win in the series.