Laverty to replace Melandri for German GP

Michael Laverty has confirmed to MCN that he will be racing at this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The Ulsterman, who has been testing for Aprilia throughout the year, will replace Marco Melandri who has had his contract terminated by the team.

Laverty told MCN that he’s excited to be racing the Aprilia and is looking forward to getting back on the MotoGP grid.

The former PBM rider has impressed the team in testing and is highly regarded within Aprilia for his technical feedback during testing and the team have been impressed with his development work on the bike. At the Catalan Grand Prix before Aprilia reached a last minute agreement with Melandri to keep on the bike. With the Italian’s form having proven to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year however Aprilia has now ran out of patience with the 2005 MotoGP vice-champion.

At the moment Laverty is replacing Melandri only for the German Grand Prix.