Leon Camier has thanked Aprilia for giving him his World Superbike Championship chance after confirming he will not stay with the team for 2012.

Camier made his Aprilia debut at the end of the 2009 season in light of his dominant British Superbike Championship win with Airwaves GSE Yamaha, a guest outing that preceded a full-time deal in 2010.

Finishing on the podium three times in 2010, Camier stayed on for 2011, but while has been on the rostrum a further four times this year on the way to seventh in the standings, he has – by his own admission – struggled to maintain consistent form.

Ending his 2011 campaign with a 12th and sixth place finish at Portimao, Camier, from Ashford, has thanked Aprilia for the chance to compete with a championship winning team, but admits he hasn’t shown his ‘full potential’.

“Two odd races for me, because for long sections of the race I was among the fastest on the track,” he said. “Unfortunately, starting from behind it’s always difficult to recover positions, especially in Race 1 because in the first stages I lost time going wide. I would have liked to end this experience on the podium.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to demonstrate our true potential this year. I’d like to thank everybody anyway: my team for their constant support and Aprilia Racing for giving me the opportunity to race in World Superbike.”

Camier’s future remains uncertain, though he has been linked with a side-step to the satellite PATA Aprilia team, or possible involvement with Paul Bird’s proposed CRT MotoGP team.