Eugene Laverty finishes 19th in Malaysia MotoGP race

Eugene Laverty's best MotoGP finish this season is a 12th place in Spain

Eugene Laverty finished back in 19th position in the penultimate round of the MotoGP championship at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

The result replicated his performance at Phillip island last weekend.

Laverty has picked up nine points with the final round to come on 8 November.

The Toomebridge rider last week revealed that he will remain with the Aspar team for a sceond season to compete in the 2016 series but will switch from Honda to Ducati machinery.

Laverty had won the Open class race for the first time in his rookie season at Aragon in Spain in September.

Meanwhile MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi will start the final race of the season from the back of the grid after knocking Marc Marquez off his bike during the race in Malaysia.

Rossi finished third but was given three penalty points following a post-race investigation.

The race was won by Honda's Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo came second.

The final race of the season takes place in Spain in two weeks' time with Rossi leading Lorenzo by seven points.