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Eugene Laverty has his sights firmly set on winning the 2013 World Superbike Championship in his second season with the Italian-based Aprilia team.

The Toomebridge rider, now living in Monaco, finished sixth in last year's series, securing one win in Portugal.

"My goal is to win the championship - I believe my bike is the best out there and I'm riding better than ever.

"The most important thing in Superbike racing is continuity and I think we can achieve something special this year."

"The priority is to improve on the package we had, not try to reinvent everything, but to evolve," said Laverty.

"I won a race at the end of the season and Max (Biaggi) won the championship so we are not too far away - I'm confident we can be at the front at the first race of the season at Phillip Island."

The youngest of a family of three racing Laverty brothers admitted that the first half of last season had been "very bad" and "not what I expected".

"It took me a while to understand what I needed from the RSV4 personally but we turned things round at Aragon and started to get some podium finishes.

"We improved the front of the bike to suit my style as I like to brake hard and push hard on the entry to corners, and now we have refined a few more small details."

Meanwhile Laverty's compatriot Jonathan Rea is also a likely contender for world championship success in the coming season.

"We have increased involvement from Honda on the electronic side and the team have been working very hard on the overall package in the off-season," said Rea.