A return to World Superbike, with the bike that he came so close to winning the championship on – it all appeared like a dream opportunity for Eugene Laverty, to put himself into a position to win the title.

The dream quickly turned to a nightmare, and from the start of winter testing it was clear that major work needed to be done to return the RSV4 to the front.

Moving to the Milwaukee Aprilia squad understandably led to heightened expectations. In their second year in WorldSBK, the former British Superbike champions were expected to make a leap forward.

Teething problems were expected with the switch from BMW to Aprilia, but not the struggles that lay ahead.

“During the winter you can go in the wrong direction with the bike,” commented Laverty. “Unfortunately, that was the case for us.”

“It wasn’t the direction that I would have taken the bike, and that’s why right away from early in the season, I was starting to steer it back to how I rode the bike four years ago. It took us a few rounds to get the right base, and we’ve been trying to progress since then.”