Eugene Laverty: Ex-World Superbike runner-up enjoying 'apprenticeship' with Bonovo BMW team

Eugene Laverty says he is enjoying his "apprenticeship" in a management role with the Bonovo BMW World Superbike team after retiring from racing in the series at the end of the 2022 season.

Laverty, 37, secured 13 race wins and 35 podium positions during a lengthy WSB career and achieved a championship best overall finish of second in 2013.

"It's a nice transition, I've had time to learn the ropes because the current team manager is still there, so it's giving me time to see how things work," Laverty told BBC Sport NI.

"I'm missing riding, as I always knew I would, but not so much the racing part as I didn't fare so well in that during the last few years of my career."

The Irish rider, whose career also included a two-year stint in MotoGP, announced in July 2022 that he would retire from the sport at the end of that season to take up his management role with the Bonovo outfit, also becoming a co-owner.

His spell in the saddle came to a disappointing end when he was flown to hospital after suffering a pelvic injury in a crash during the final race of his World Superbike career in Australia.

"My initial plan had been to race until I was 39 or 40 but then I realised that an offer like that doesn't come along very often so I made a decision during 2022 to call it quits on my racing career and step onto the other side of the fence," explained Laverty.

"The first half of the season was very strange because we went immediately from hospital, where I finished my career, to pre-season testing in the same team, but not riding the bike, so it was so odd.

"I didn't really enjoy the first half of the year [in 2023] because I don't like change. I had been doing world championship racing for 16 years so the changeover, it was a big adaption, but the second half of the year seeing the progress, especially with Garrett Gerloff getting some great results, I started to enjoy it."

American Gerloff finished 12th in the 2023 championship and will be joined in the team for the 2024 campaign by England's Scott Redding, with Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark lining out for the ROKiT BMW outfit.

"This is the first year that we are an official BMW team, along with the ROKiT team, so all four riders have equal machinery," explained Laverty, whose last race win came at Phillip Island in Australia in 2014.

"Scott Redding has moved across and he's the guy who has really had a lot of success with the BMW, he's had quite a few podiums with the bike. Garrett was the top BMW rider last year, Scott was the top BMW rider three years ago, so we have got a very strong line-up.

"Working with two guys that are nice guys as well, I'm enjoying that."

This year's championship begins at Phillip Island on 24-25 February, with Ducati-mounted Alvaro Bautista defending the crown he has won for the past two years.

"With the two BMW teams having access to the same kit we have to be looking at each other. Everyone wants to be a friendly family but we have to try and be the top BMW, that's for sure.

"This bike is coming stronger and stronger and is hopefully fit for race wins this year.

"There are a few tracks where we are going to struggle but there are other circuits, the likes of Donington Park and Magny-Cours where we can win."