Eugene Laverty completes move to Suzuki World Superbike team

Eugene Laverty

Eugene Laverty will race for the Fixi Crescent Suzuki World Superbike team next year.

The Toomebridge rider will link up with British Superbike champion Alex Lowes in the Paul Denning-run outfit after the deal was completed on Tuesday.

"I'm delighted to join Crescent Suzuki and I'm really excited to see what I can do with the bike," said Laverty.

"I will give everything I possibly can to bring Suzuki to the top of the podium again."

He added: "I will try the GSX-R1000 for the first time at the end of this month to better understand our potential.

"Thank you to Paul Denning and his team, and to Suzuki, for pushing so hard for this deal and for believing in me."

The 27-year-old has been the subject of interest from two MotoGP teams.

Pramac Ducati were understood to want Laverty to ride their production bike in MotoGP next year, while the Monaco-based man was also on the radar of the Spanish-based Aspar team, which dominated the CRT class with Aleix Esparago on Aprilia machinery.

There was also speculation that Laverty's most recent employers, the Aprilia World Superbike squad, would make a last-ditch bid to run him in their team, alongside Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli.

Laverty finished second in this year's World Superbike championship, 28 points behind winner Tom Sykes.