Eugene Laverty had a busy day verifying a number of upgrades to the RSV4 RF, including a new engine specification and exhaust. Aftershowing solid progress in pace over the day's two practice sessions, the team were able to finish Free Practice 2 in P9 and reach the pole position shootout for the third consecutive round.

Stand-in rider Julián Simón, riding a 1000cc bike competitively for the first time, produced an impressive performance to finish within 3 seconds of the frontrunners. He will take part in Superpole 1 after finishing P18, but is hopeful of further progress in Saturday morning's Free Practice 3 session.

The action continues at #AragonWorldSBK on Saturday with Free Practice 3 at 08:45 local time (07:45 GMT), ahead of Superpole 1 & 2 at 10:30 (09:30 GMT) and Race 1 at 13:00 (12:00 GMT)

Shaun Muir, Team Principal
 
First of all it was a good job by Julián today. It's his first time on a Superbike and the RSV4 RF, so to get within a couple of seconds from the front is promising and what we expected.

Eugene has had a lot of things to test today. We're happy we got through to Superpole 2 with him, and there's still a few things to work on for him. He still doesn't have a bike he feels comfortable on over a race distance, but we're certainly moving in the right direction.

We'll work hard tonight on both bikes and come out fighting tomorrow morning. We'll try to get a good base setting in Free Practice 3 ahead of qualifying, and hopefully make the top two rows.


Eugene Laverty #50 - FP1 - 1'51.535    :   FP2 - 1'51.054

It's nice to make it through to Superpole 2 again, especially when the rain started at the end of FP2 and things got quite close. It's easy to get caught out in mixed conditions but we timed the tyre change right.

In the morning we didn't make as much progress with the bike as I expected, but we made some changes in the afternoon and it improved quite a lot.

We've still got work to do, but there is reason to be optimistic for the rest of the weekend. We've got hopes for a top 5 finish this weekend and I think that's achievable if we have a good Superpole session tomorrow.

Julián Simón #3 - FP1 - 1'53.326   :    FP2 - 1'53.875

 I am amazed at the power the Aprilia RSV4 RF has compared to the 600cc I usually ride. It is my first time with these Pirelli tyres also, which I really like.

The first practice session was not so bad, and it was important that I learnt the bike and how to get the best from it. The second session had some difficult weather, but I think we made some useful steps.

We have Free Practice 3 in the morning to do more work, and I hope  can get a good Superpole result. For the race it would be really great to get some points, and I am going to make sure I enjoy it.