Eugene Laverty kicks off his 2010 World Supersport campaign in promising style as he tops the Portimao three-day test.

Last year’s World Supersport Championship runner-up Eugene Laverty reminded rivals he will be the man to beat this season after snatching the fastest time of the Portimao three-day test.

The Irishman had cut a relatively low profile over the course of the weekend thus far, but stepped up in the concluding session to set a time of 1min 45.104secs.

As well as being the fastest lap of the session, Laverty’s time was also the best of the weekend as a whole, the Parkalgar Honda man going a tenth faster than Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz.

Eugene Said “This test was the perfect way to start the 2010 season. I finished the season with a victory and today I’m back in first position. The most postive thing for me to take from this test is the fact that I  also was quickest in the one session that was completely wet. Last year we struggled a lot in the wet but now we are prepared for the rain when it comes! We will test at Phillip Island before the first race there so I’m looking forward to working on improving our setting further.”

Laverty’s team-mate Miguel Praia was also impressively fast around his home circuit in fourth, ahead of Katsuaki Fujiwara, whose best time from Friday was enough to see him end the test fifth overall.

First World Supersport Rcae is on the 28th Febuary in Australia at Phillip Island.