I may test the Aprilia MotoGP bike immediately at the end of this year - perhaps Valencia would be a good place to start because then it ’ s a direct comparison to the Ducati .
They have made some progress this year with the bike , but I know they want to step up as they have KTM coming in next year who look like they are doing a good job . The pressure is definitely on .
To sum up your MotoGP experience - not your first stint in 250 ’ s but this last two years - would you say it was a good life experience , a good career move ?
It was . It was character building ! I ’ ve been much more settled this year . When I look at my previous years in Superbike I had got into a bad mentality of crashing too many times in races . I was very unsettled , I put too much pressure on myself , especially on the Suzuki with the Crescent team , pretty much all my crashes that season were in races instead of practice . I have learnt to calm down now , some days when 10th or 12th position is the best I can do I ’ ve been able to take those finishes .
My aim is to take that mentality across to Superbikes , to have the consistency that perhaps I was lacking in my championship fighting year of 2013 . I had too many DNF ’ s , too many race crashes and that just doesn ’ t cut it . When you look at what Jonathan Rea has done the last two years , you have got to take your points . When you are having a bad day you have got to settle . I think I have learnt how to do that here in GP , because it ’ s never been realistic to aim for the podium in MotoGP so I had to adjust my mindset and have that calmer approach .
The MotoGP schedule is intense , you have an incredibly busy run in to the end of the season , then it will be straight into testing with Aprilia . Whether that ’ s both MotoGP and Superbike or not , you won ’ t have much down-time between now and December when the testing ban kicks in . I ’ m guessing you will be glad of the break , have you got anything planned at this stage for that winter break ?
In December , I ’ ve actually rescheduled our honeymoon because last year I had to cancel it after I got injured . We ’ ve rescheduled it for the first and second weeks in December so I ’ m looking forward to a bit of down time there , some time off from training . I still have little bits and pieces of my body that I need to get repaired , things that have been lingering since the accidents during pre-season testing . So the plan is to get myself really 100 % healthy and ready to start training again at the beginning of January .
Regarding the rest of this season , you have the two-year-old Ducati - the GP14 , which not many really got on with - but you have been doing a great job and look really comfortable on it . Are you enjoying the bike ? Do you think you can achieve more with it or have you already reached the maximum in terms of machine performance ?
I am enjoying the bike . It was difficult to get my head around what worked with it earlier in the year because we were still testing during race weekends trying to get the bike to turn . That was the old problem with the GP14 , it didn ’ t turn . On our side we went in a completely different chassis direction , almost the opposite to what Iannone and Dovizioso ran back when they used this bike in 2014 . That direction has made the bike turn so I think we have learned something , maybe something that they couldn ’ t crack ; we can be proud of that . We have got the bike tuning and improved its biggest weakness . Now we have got our heads around that I feel we can be even more consistent .
You ’ ve been a consistent points scorer every round - that run was only brought to an end via a crazy last-corner take down in Austria by Danilo Petrucci . So with seven rounds left in the Championship , do you feel you can get back inside the top 10 overall ?
The important thing is to be hovering around that 10th position in dry races and then capitalise when we get those wet races - as that is where we can get our big points haul . Those fifth and sixth place finishes are achievable with our bike in those wet races and they are huge toward the championship standings . That ’ s key now . Unfortunately , I ’ ve had one DNF because of Petrucci - but if I can finish all the races from here on out and gain more than 100 points , that could well see us back inside the top ten .
One of the things not many people realise about you is that you speak Italian - is that something that you decided to do whilst riding for an Italian team or something you felt would benefit your career working in European paddocks ?
It ’ s something that I started halfway through my Aprilia contract actually . During my first year Max used to speak on my behalf - then once Max left as the Italian rider , I realised it ’ s important whilst riding for an Italian Manufacturer to speak the language . It took me a couple of years to gain confidence , but now I ’ m comfortable so it will be really nice to return to Aprilia and be able to speak Italian with the guys . It is strange to change when I have spoken English with a lot of the guys to now switch to Italian , but it ’ s nice to be able to do that : nothing gets lost in translation , it ’ s something extra in your pocket !
You live in Monaco , so obviously it works well being able to speak the lingo with the Italian border just a stone ’ s throw away . Your lifestyle down there looks perfect for a professional sportsperson : you train and socialise with many other top sports stars from all different arenas . Was the move down there lifestyle or career driven ?
I really like it there , it ’ s a good fit for me . I always say in Monaco with all the athletes that live there , there is no such thing as a weekend . It ’ s a seven-day week because there is no real difference between a Sunday or a Wednesday - we don ’ t have “ work ” to go to so we can all train together , we are all on a similar kind of schedule . It was strange at home when I lived in Northern Ireland - even if I had some time at home to train it was only really the weekend where I could go ride Motocross , ride trials , cycle or whatever with my friends . In Monaco all you have to do is drop a message and you can be sure there will be somebody in town to go and train with . It ’ s nice to be surrounded by people of a similar mind-set , with similar jobs . T
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EUGENE LAVERTY