Eugene Laverty hails from from Toombridge, Ireland and comes from a road racing family, with a father and his brothers all involved in two wheel activities. After debuting in national championships in 2001, and coming second in the British 125cc Championship in 2004, Laverty moved up to British Superbikes, where he showed his potential in front of larger crowds. This was enough to impress team boss Cecchinello to place his trust in the Northern Irish rider as his sole representative in 250cc in 2007, Laverty’s debut season in the World Championship. Since then Laverty has spent several seasons in the World Supersport and Superbikes Championships, where he has been a consistent race winner. In 2015 Laverty raced for Drive M7 Aspar in the premier class of the MotoGP™ World Championship. It was a difficult year for Laverty who scored nine points and ended in 22nd overall. For 2016 he remained with the Aspar team but switched to Ducati machinery alongside new teammate Yonny Hernandez.