Eugene Laverty competes for the Blusens Aprilia team

Toomebridge's Eugene Laverty achieved his third points finish of the season as he claimed 13th spot in Sunday's Italian 250cc Grand Prix at Mugello.

Blusens Aprilia rider Laverty finished over 47 seconds behind home winner Marco Simoncelli.

The Italian edged out Spain's Alex Debon by under a second while Swiss rider Thomas Luthi was third.

Laverty is now 20th overall in the championship standings having claimed seven points.

The Northern Ireland man's performance in Italy equalled his best previous finish this season which was at the Chinese Grand Prix.

His other points finish was a 15th place in Portugal.

Laverty has now already outscored his points tally from last year in the championship.

He was involved in a race long battle for 12th with Italian rider Alex Baldolini but was overtaken on the final turn.

However, Laverty was delighted with his weekend's work.

"This is a great result for both myself and the team. My lap times were very strong and I finished just 47secs behind the race winner," said Laverty.

"We've been making progress at each and every round since Portugal and it's all credit to the team for working with me to improve the machine."

The MotoGP World Championship now moves to Barcelona for next week's Catalan Grand Prix.

Catalunya is the home race for the Blusens Aprilia team so Laverty will be looking to achieve another solid result.