World Supersport number two Eugene Laverty made his WSBK debut with Yamaha on Tuesday in France.

Occasional bouts of heavy rain and a wet track surface around France’s Magny-Cours circuit prevented the new bike and rider combinations from getting through the workload they expected when pre-season testing commenced for the 2011 Superbike World Championship on Tuesday.

But there were many interesting sights in pitlane, and occasionally on the circuit in between showers, as new signing Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) had his first outing on a 2010 spec S1000RR, and Eugene Laverty (Yamaha Sterilgarda) rode his new bike for the first time as well.

Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) re-joined the team he won the Superstock 1000 Championship with in 2003, and put in some laps on wets on his GSX-R1000.

Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia Pata Racing Team) took a factory-spec bike out in public for the first time as well, in the inaugural test for a fresh team for 2011, a combination of the DFX and Borciani.

The new-spec BMW S1000RR, complete with stubby exhaust pipe, redesigned fuel tank and new engine spec, took Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) towards his third BMW season in WSBK racing.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Katsuaki Fujiwara (KHI Test Rider) did not venture out on the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

Due to the changeable conditions no truly significant times were recorded today but another day of testing remains tomorrow, with weather forecasts indicating there will be slightly improved conditions.