Disappointed Laverty looks forward to Le Mans

Eugene Laverty faced one of his biggest challenges of his rookie season to date in the 250cc class race in Shanghai. Having chosen the wrong race tyre in Turkey, the LCR Honda rider was hoping to continue his progress on the quarter litre kit bike at his third race outside of Europe, but experienced the steep learning curve of the complex Chinese track and struggled to find the setup to allow him to maintain the pace that he would have liked. Laverty spoke to motogp.com after the race to reflect on a difficult fourth Grand Prix of 2007.

"It's four races and four finishes, but another disappointment as in Turkey," he commented. "The difference is that in Turkey it was my tyre choice at fault, whereas this time my lap times were consistent. I got caught up in an incident on the first lap and couldn't pick up the pace, and we weren't sure about the setup which always makes it a difficult race." Back on European soil for the Alice Grand Prix de France, the Toonbridge rider expects to have less difficulties with one of the oldest circuits on the MotoGP calendar.

"I think Shanghai was a difficult circuit to learn, whereas Le Mans I hope I can get the hang of after a couple of sessions."