Northern Ireland’s Michael Laverty successfully finished his maiden MotoGP™ race in Qatar on Sunday, taking the PBM own-built bike to 17th position.

Where teammate Yonny Hernández is riding an ART chassis, Laverty has the task of helping to develop the team’s in-house machine.

“It’s great to get the first round under our belts and to bring the bike home safely,” he reported. “It's not the position we wanted but we have to keep reminding ourselves that Rome wasn't built in a day. We are making good progress with the PBM bike and, all things considered, we are not that far away from the top CRTs at this stage. I believe we can take a good step forward in Austin for Round 2.”


On what is more familiar machinery to the squad, Hernández scored two World Championship points as he rode to 14th place.

“I did not have a good start and lost some positions, but was able to recover them before the end of the first lap,” the Colombian was pleased to state. “The bike setup felt good, so I was able to push hard and I had a nice fight with Hector Barberá in the race. I am happy with the result and scoring two points for the team and championship is great. With more time on the bike and setup work for the latter part of the race, I am confident of improving further.”

PBM’s next challenge comes in the form of Circuit of the Americas as the Austin, Texas track hosts its first MotoGP™ race in two weekends’ time.



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