Another piece of the MotoGP puzzle has been fixed into place. It was widely known that Eugene Laverty would be riding a production Honda for the Drive M7 Aspar team in MotoGP next year, but official confirmation of the fact only came today.
Laverty is to line up alongside Nicky Hayden aboard the uprated production Honda, now called the RC213V-RS, taking the place of Hiroshi Aoyama.
Laverty’s path into the Aspar team was far from straightforward. The Irishman had been in talks with Aspar, who at the time were also talking to replacement rider Leon Camier and Frenchman Loris Baz. Aspar then signed a precontract with both Baz and Laverty, subject to the condition that Aspar could not secure the services of Scott Redding.
Once the deadline for Redding’s signature passed, Aspar found themselves with two contracts on their hands. They quickly moved to break the contract with Baz, declaring that they had not known that the Frenchman was 1.92m, despite the fact that Baz’s height is a matter of public knowledge.
That left Laverty in line to take the seat at Aspar, despite having offers from Ducati to ride at Pramac, and having had talks with Forward Yamaha.
Laverty returns to the Grand Prix paddock after six years in World Supersport and World Superbike. Laverty was twice runner-up in World Supersport, to Cal Crutchlow and to Kenan Sofuoglu, as well as finishing second in the World Superbike championship to Tom Sykes.
After a hard year on the Suzuki in World Superbikes, Laverty has been looking for either a more competitive ride, or a switch back to MotoGP. The Honda RC213V-RS will have a 2014 Honda RC213V engine, without the seamless gearbox, but should be a much more competitive package than the current RCV1000R.
Source: Drive M7 Aspar Team; Photo: Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Racing
This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.
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