Laverty well placed to pressurise

Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty leapt from provisional fifth to pole position in final qualification for the 11th round of the World Supersport Championship at Nurburgring in Germany.

The Ballymena man showed real class and pace while team mate Miguel Praia improved his lap times but dropped to 15th overall.

Laverty needs to beat Sofuoglu in Sunday’s race to keep the pressure on in the title fight; he is currently second in the standings, just 17-points behind with three races remaining.

The race takes place at 2.30pm on Sunday.

Laverty said afterwards: 'We needed to get an advantage over the Turk and we did that. I made six laps within 2/10ths of each other and well over one-second faster than yesterday. We have made a good step with my Parkalgar Honda and my riding.

'We have played with the gearing as it is a bit of a compromise around here and also with the geometry of the bike. My Honda has improved a lot completing the corner and is nimble while providing excellent feedback from the rear.

'I think the race will be between Kenan and myself; he wants to win the race and has shown that so it should be a good battle between the pair of us at the front.'