PBM UK riders Michael Laverty and Yonny Hernandez concluded the official three-day MotoGP test at Sepang today with both riders putting in an impressive debut for the Penrith-based team.

Laverty, from Toome in Northern Ireland, ended the final day in 15th place overall and second of the Claiming Rules Teams (CRT) machines after gradually upping his pace each day aboard the Aprilia ART, whereby the 31-year-old recorded a time of 2:03.874 on his final lap.


Columbian Hernandez, from Medelln, was placed 20th out of the 27 machines after the opening day and despite still not being 100% fit following surgery to his injured shoulder over winter, the 24-year-old ended up in 25th with a lap time of 2:05.407 for Britain's only MotoGP World Championship team.


With only the pair of last year's bikes at the test, both Laverty and Hernandez were limited in the amount of work they could do without a spare machine each but headed up by Technical Director Phil Borley, the team were happy with the amount of progress they made.

The brand new PBM machines are expected to be at the next official MotoGP test at Sepang on February 26/28th and like the pair of 2012 machines, will sport the team's British Racing Green colours signifying the latest British involvement in World Championship motorsport. It is part of a long term plan by team owner Paul Bird in MotoGP to develop an all British bike.

Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"We have had a very successful test and I'm delighted with how everything has gone. I have been speaking to Phil and the riders on a daily basis and we have built up a brilliant rapport already. I shouldn't be, because we have worked with him for three years previously and know how talented he is, but I'm surprised at just how well Michael has gone given his lack of experience with the bike, brakes and tyres at a track he's never seen before. Yonny continues to impress us all despite his shoulder still not being 100%, he's very much helping the team which is great and he'll be fully fit by the start of the season. The new bikes are nearly ready so we'll have them at the next test and hopefully we can continue this great start. I'm more than happy, especially as we now have silenced a few of our doubters!"


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