The last Superpole of the year has seen Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) claim his second Tissot-Superpole of the year – and of his WSBK career – after a close battle with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), with a fast lap of 1’40.620, edging the Championship leader by 0.048s.
The first row on the grid for the final two races of the year is completed by Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia), who is keen to play his part tomorrow.
Laverty sits second in the standings, just 37 points behind Sykes making the Jerez win paramount and with pole position, Sykes wont want to leave anything in the tank.
Eugene Laverty: “I’ve got to go out and try and win both races. Starting from pole position makes that a bit more likely. I’ve got to try to go away at the start and see what I can do and let the rest take care of itself. Tom’s right there on the front row with me, doing his job as well. It was nice for Tom to let me have a pole position again. That’s two. Now I have a watch for each wrist.”
Tom Sykes: “Front row is our target and it has been all season, and it just so happens that we have had eight pole positions this year as a result. I would say it was possible to make pole today but we had a little hiccup and there was no need to test the boundaries again. I know what my potential is and we did not really utilise the full potential of myself, and the bike, in Superpole. We want to get a good clean start if we can tomorrow, get stuck in and see what happens.
“A couple of guys are going to be fast early on and we have just got to do what we normally do every weekend. That is my plan. I am quite happy with our race set-up on the Ninja ZX-10R and the only thing I am trying to think about is trying to win the races.
“The conditions do change between races, and race two is going to be hotter than race one, but I am sure every guy on the grid has taken that into consideration. I think all things considered the bike is good across mixed conditions. Over race distance of 21 laps, I am happy.”
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) finished fourth, followed by Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia) in sixth position. The Spanish rider had a crash at Turn 2 during the third Superpole session, with five minutes left, that ruined his chances of getting a better starting position.
Still suffering the after-effects of the accident at Istanbul just four–weeks ago, Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) continued to impress on his WSBK return and, despite not being 100% fit, secured seventh slot on the grid over local rider Xavi Fores (Team Ducati Alstare) and Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini Kawasaki). The Australian rider got his best-ever qualifying result today and a well-deserved third row start.
Leon Camier: “I am really pleased with the result, especially considering that I haven’t ridden the bike properly since Germany and had two massive crashes in that time. I have got my confidence back up and the bike was starting to feel more natural and I enjoyed that. We used the qualifying tyre in Superpole 1 and we didn’t really need to; in hindsight we could have saved it till the last session and then I think we could have been further up the grid – at least the next row. All-in-all, considering everything that has happened I am pretty happy with today.”
Wildcard Broc Parkes will start his YART Yamaha from 11th position. Commenting on Twitter Parkes said: “Very happy with that. Bring on tomorrow.”
Qualifying Results
1. Eugene Laverty IRL Aprilia Racing RSV4 1m 40.620s
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 40.668s
3. Davide Giugliano ITA Althea Aprilia RSV4 1m 40.839s
4. Marco Melandri ITA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 1m 40.930s
5. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia Racing RSV4 1m 40.958s
6. Toni Elias ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 41.347s
7. Leon Camier GBR Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 41.837s
8. Xavi Fores ESP Alstare Ducati 1199 R 1m 42.215s
9. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 42.500s
10. Chaz Davies GBR BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 1m 42.015s
11. Broc Parkes AUS YART Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 42.056s
12. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA Mesaroli Ducati 1098 R 1m 42.300s
13. Ayrton Badovini ITA Alstare Ducati 1199 R 1m 42.438s
14. Federico Sandi ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 42.916s
15. Michel Fabrizio ITA Pata Honda CBR1000RR 1m 43.081s
Did not progress to Superpole
16. Sylvain Barrier FRA BMW GoldBet S1000RR HP4 1m 42.933s
17. Leon Haslam GBR Pata Honda CBR1000RR 1m 42.973s
18. Jules Cluzel FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 42.976s
19. Max Neukirchner GER MR Ducati 1199 R 1m 43.289s
20. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Grillini Dentalmatic BMW S1000RR 1m 44.232s
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