Five different manufacturers ranks in top five after Superpole

Day Two

With both factory Ducati Xerox machines ruled out early from the reckoning, after a Superpole 1 crash for Michel Fabrizio and a tough Superpole 1 session in general for Noriyuki Haga, Carlos Checa was once more best Ducati rider, taking his private Althea machine to third-best grid placing.

Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) could not make the most of his qualifying tyres and was fourth on the grid, but still starts from the front row for Sunday’s 22-lap races.

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was a battling fifth, ahead of Pata B&G Ducati rider Jakub Smrz, and Checa’s fast team-mate Shane Byrne. The last place on the second row went to Troy Corser, who recovered from a technical problem in Superpole 1 to finish eighth overall. Top Kawasaki starting slot belongs to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) after he was 12th in Superpole.

James Toseland (Sterilgarda Yamaha) crashed in Superpole two, and Max Neukirchner also had a fast fall, destroying his number one bike. He finished 13th, Toseland 15th.

Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) will not race at Portimao, still suffering effects from his Phillip Island crash.

Cal Crutchlow: “We made some changes since the last race. Yamaha has worked really hard in the last month to work out our problems as well. The track here is better and better and our bike is also improving. I was quietly confident I could get pole and we even had one qualifying tyre left at the end because we used race tyres in the first two sessions. Pole is a bonus.”

Max Biaggi: “We made a good race here last year so we know what our level would be. Now we are back where we should be, fighting with the best guys on the top. We did not make many changes just got the set-up to work as best we can. The layout of the track and the tarmac just means that our bike is working better.”

Carlos Checa: “I think it is open tomorrow, because many riders have good pace with a chance to win and be at the front. We will see how the race turns out, but hopefully we will be there at the end and have a chance.”

Supersport World Championship

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Laverty on pole at his team’s home track.
Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) pushed his way to the pole time at Portimao, with Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro second and third. Top Kawasaki rider was Joan Lascorz in fourth, with the best Triumph BE1 machine under the control of Chaz Davies, sixth on the timesheets. Local rider Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda) was eighth and now starts from the second row.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) will start Sunday’s race from pole position, having held off the push of Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Race Junior) in combined qualifying. Marco Bussolotti (All Service System Honda) went third and Eddie La Marra (Team Lorini Honda) was fourth, each having moved up from Superstock 600 racing this year.

Tempi: 1. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’45.773; 2. Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.241; 3. Bussolotti M. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.609; 4. La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.759; 5. Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’46.821; 6. Magnoni M. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.839; 7. Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.884; 8. Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’46.895

Superstock 600 Race – 10 Laps
In the first race of the season for the Superstock 600 riders pole man Florian Marino (Ten Kate Junior Honda) was a first lap faller, leaving Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Racing Yamaha) a clear run to the win. Second was Romain Lanusse (MRS Racing Yamaha) and third Frederik Karlsen (MTM Racing Yamaha).

Times: 1. Guarnoni J. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 18’18.901 (150,434 kph); 2. Lanusse R. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 6.101; 3. Karlsen F. (NOR) Yamaha YZF R6 6.277; 4. Calero Perez N. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 6.527; 5. Fanelli D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 7.916; 6. Cecchini R. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 10.090; 7. Lombardi B. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 10.724; 8. Major N. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 14.105

—  Ducati Report

Today did not go at all as planned for the Ducati Xerox riders Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga when they failed to reach the final phases of Portimao’s Superpole, meaning that they will line up in seventeenth and eighteenth position respectively on tomorrow’s race grid.

In second qualifying this morning the top fourteen riders closed the session within six tenths of a second of each other and all fourteen registered times under 1m44. Michel made constant improvement, recording a series of fast laps. He saved his fastest lap for the final minutes of the session, thus finishing third on the combined qualifying timesheets. From mid-session Nori too recorded several fast laps, the best of which left him in eighth position overall, with both riders therefore qualifying very easily for the afternoon’s Superpole.

In the first phase of the Superpole the two Ducati Xerox rider exited on race tyres. After just one lap, Michel unfortunately had a fall and although he was unhurt he inevitably lost precious time, returning to the track in the final minutes of the session on board his second bike. Fabrizio, unlike some of the other riders, did not use a qualifier and unfortunately he could not do enough to be able to pass to the next stage, finishing in seventeenth position, well below his usual standards. Haga, also ill at ease during the session, was unable to reach his normal levels of performance and finished in eighteenth place, citing grip problems. He was therefore out of the top sixteen and did not proceed to the subsequent Superpole stages.

Michel Fabrizio
“It’s been two days that I haven’t had good enough feeling at the front – and this lack of grip was the reason for my crash. We haven’t yet understood why but it’s evident that I don’t have grip at the front. We’ve really work hard over the two days, changing many things in the process, but we haven’t yet managed to resolve the issue. We hope to solve things somehow in tomorrow morning’s warm-up but the races will obviously be extremely difficult as I’m starting from the fifth row. We will, as always however, give all we’ve got to try to score the best possible results.”

Noriyuki Haga
“As I’ve said several times in the past, I don’t really like this track and today I’m definitely not about to change that opinion. What can I say? In Superpole, we understood straight away that after my first exit we needed to go back out and improve. I thought I’d be able to make up at least a few tenths and so I preferred not to use a qualifier, saving them for the following two sessions. This was not the right decision to make evidently as I wasn’t able to improve on my time. We just have to wait and see tomorrow; it will of course not be easy to make a good start from 18th position on the grid.”

—  Althea Ducati

Second day of qualifying for the Althea Racing team on the Portuguese track of Portimao. After the results of yesterday, Carlos Checa and Shakey Byrne continued with the work on track today and both easily qualified for the afternoon’s Superpole. A great lap time for Checa (1m43.115) who closed in seventh position while Byrne (1m43.588) closed in eleventh. Towards the middle of the session the English rider was victim of a crash but fortunately he was unhurt. In the free practice preceding the Superpole the Althea Racing riders worked to refine the set up of their 1198s. Third place for Byrne (1m43.367) who improved on his time set morning and fourth for Checa (1m43.565), so great results for both riders who subsequently got through to the second and then the third phases of the Superpole. By the end of the session Checa had recorded the third fastest time and Byrne the seventh, meaning a positive first and second row start for the riders in tomorrow’s 22-lap races.

Carlos Checa : “This result was achieved thanks to the team’s hard work. The bike has improved a lot with regard to top speed and I am also happy with the set-up which we have found that allows me to be fast even in the more technical sections of this track. There are some places where I can make further improvement but overall I’d say we’re ready and confident for the two races. This is Superbike and so it’s impossible to make any predictions, but we’ve done the ground work and will give 100% as ever.”

Shane Byrne : “The second round of the Superbike world championship and a second high side for me. I cannot explain what happened this morning because my team has done a really great job during these two days and during the qualifying session I was really comfortable on my Ducati and suddenly I crashed. Fortunately my physical condition is good and I was able to enter all three sessions of the Superpole. I’m pretty happy because of my seventh position, even though my target was to reach the first row in tomorrow’s races starting grid. Second row is not so bad and I’m very happy because we found the right set up for the races. I’m happy also for Carlos’ third place, that’s a fantastic result for all our team. We are both ready for tomorrow’s two races”.

Genesio Bevilacqua – General Manager : “A great result for both riders. I’m of course happy for Carlos but also for Shakey’s Superpole performance. Fortunately his crash this morning did not affect him this afternoon, as it did at Phillip Island. His seventh place finish in a hard-fought Superpole such as today’s augers well for the races. Carlos has once again demonstrated his ability. He’s worked hard with his team and we hope that tomorrow he is able to be a front-runner, and to fight for the podium that’s a reachable target for him”.

—  Yamaha Report

Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow set himself apart from the class this afternoon, storming through the Superpole heats to take pole and breaking the Best Lap record in the process. Crutchlow unleashed the full potential of the Yamaha R1’s power in ideal track conditions, leaving a gap of over four tenths of a second to second placed Aprilia rider Max Biaggi. Team-mate James Toseland had also been progressing well through the sessions with fast consistent speed until an unfortunate high-side on the last corner of the circuit in heat two relegated him to 15th on the grid for tomorrow’s two Superbike races. Although bruised Toseland was luckily uninjured in the high speed crash.

The second qualifying session of the race weekend earlier in the day saw both riders focussing on the set up for race day whilst ensuring they remained within the times for the subsequent Superpole sessions. Incredibly the first 14 riders of the session were within 0.7 of a second of each other. Crutchlow’s time, just 0.6 off the front man was particularly impressive considering the entire session was run on just one set of tyres.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (1st, 1’42.092)
“The Superpole lap wasn’t really a surprise to me to be honest, we had a good session beforehand and I knew we could go really well in the qualifying session this morning. We left a lot in reserve, so down in 14th place I wasn’t panicking. I knew we had a good pace for the pole session, I only used one qualifying tyre and we only needed one lap to do it. Yamaha’s done a fantastic job in the last month, it was hard work but we’ve got there in the end, all working together. I’m quietly confident we’ll do a good job tomorrow as well.”

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (15th, 1’49.401)
“What a disappointing end to what has been a great qualifying so far this weekend. The Sterilgarda Yamaha Team have been brilliant in how they’ve transformed the bike from where we were in Phillip Island and I want to thank them for that. The mistake for me was that I was on the second lap on the qualifier tyre and I was trying to make it work hard on the last turn as if it had been the first lap on it. Unfortunately it was a mistake, I suffered a lack of grip and the consequence is I’m now 15th on the grid.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
“first of all I think a big thanks to the guys to have done such a good job since our not so great performance in Australia. I have to say Cal did a fantastic lap, we are confident that we will be in there tomorrow. The pace Cal had in practice was really good so I’m expecting good things. Unfortunately James had a big high-side during the second Superpole session which was unfortunate, but he has a good race pace which will help. For sure it will be harder for him to start from the back but I think he knows how to fight his way through. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

—  BMW Report

Both BMW Motorrad Motorsport riders, Troy Corser (AUS) and Ruben Xaus (ESP), qualified easily for today’s Superpole. While Troy set the tenth fastest time in the Qualifying Practices Ruben finished 13th . In Superpole, the Spaniard missed the third session by just 0.258 seconds and will start tomorrow’s races from tenth, while Troy made his way to Superpole 3 and finally managed to qualify eighth.

Troy Corser:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:43.491 min / Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:44.070 min / Fastest lap Superpole 3: 1:43.152 min
“We started pretty well in this morning’s Qualifying Practice. We changed some electronics settings to make the bike more controllable and a bit smoother when exiting corners. This allowed me to push the bike a little more and we definitely made up time in the middle sector of the track, where we had been struggling before. During Superpole 1 my number one bike unfortunately stopped, but the second bike still felt good. The engine felt stronger and we were able to put in good lap times on the qualifying tyre. I am feeling quite confident for tomorrow’s races as we have done some good times over a race distance in Free Practice.”

Ruben Xaus:
Bike: BMW S 1000 RR
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:43.589 min / Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:44.332 min / Fastest lap Superpole 2: 1:42.999 min
“I am very, very happy with today’s result as we made a big improvement compared to yesterday. I was confident to be in Q3. I was on qualifying tyres and tried to save them for Q3 after my quick lap. That was certainly my mistake as I should have followed Max Biaggi. Nevertheless, I am more than happy to have made it into the top ten. A big compliment to the team: They really taught me how to use the bike properly. ”

Davide Tardozzi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team Manager):
“We are pretty happy. We have been improving with every session this weekend; our times are getting closer to the top guys. The whole team has worked really well together so far this weekend. Both Troy and Ruben have good starting positions for tomorrow’s races so I am confident we can
do well.”

—  Reitwagen BMW Report

Team Reitwagen BMW riders Andrew Pitt and Makoto Tamada achieved their first goal of the weekend by qualifying for Superpole 1. Just two tenths of a second or so would’ve seen Andrew get into Superpole 2, but it was not to be. But he and Makoto were in good company, as both Ducati factory riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio also failed to make the cut. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) took Superpole, with a lap of 1:42.092, almost one and a half seconds inside the lap record. Second was Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Carlos Checa (Ducati) third and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) fourth.

Andrew Pitt – 19th, 1’43.781: “Today was a bit frustrating, because we are making progress every time we go out and we are so close to achieving more. The bike is better and it feels smoother, but it’s a bit of a hard ask to push it a lot harder in a one lap situation. We’re still at an early stage of our
development and we’re all still learning about the bike and its possibilities. I’m also learning to adapt my riding style and use less lean angle and it’s coming, but just takes time. We tested some Bosch electronics briefly in Jerez, but will not use it in the races because there are some areas of it we need to sort out first. I feel positive about the bike and once we get everything dialled in (and maybe also get a bit of luck) we’ll be much more competitive for sure.”

Makoto Tamada – 20th, 1’45.142: “We did not make as big an improvement today as I had expected, so I am a little disappointed. Changing one part of the suspension on this bike can make a big difference and when we did that today the feeling at the rear was good, but not the front. It’s something we will continue to work on and get the bike more comfortable for me to to ride. I don’t like this track so much, because there so many changes of elevation and blind corners. It is a very physical track and technically difficult and, at the moment, our bike is not working at its best here. This weekend I would be happy to score points in both races and that’s what I am aiming to do.”

—  Suzuki Report

Team Suzuki Alstare’s Leon Haslam will start tomorrow’s second round of the World Superbike Championship at Portimao in Portugal from the front row of the grid after a dramatic Superpole 3 – which saw the lead change hands several times in the 10-minute session.

In the end, Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) took Superpole with a lap of 1:42.092; almost one-and-a-half seconds inside the lap record. Second was Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Carlos Checa (Ducati) third and Haslam fourth.

Team-mate Sylvain Guintoli just missed out on a second-row spot on the grid and will start on the third row.

Leon Haslam – 4th, 1:42.596:
“I’m really happy with the race set-up of my bike, but I’m a little unhappy that I didn’t get my qualifying tyres to work as well in Superpole: I think I would’ve gone faster in Superpole 3 if I had used a race tyre, but the front row of the grid is OK. The track’s grip has improved since yesterday and I was consistently able to do 1:42s on race rubber, so I’m feeling very positive about the races tomorrow. Today, when the track temperature was higher, the grip was not as good, but that happens quite often.

“In tomorrow’s warm-up, we’ll run back-to-back tests with both bikes, with just small adjustments to see if we can improve further. There were no dramas for me today really, except one time when I was on a fast lap and got baulked by Max Biaggi. Otherwise everything is OK and I’m looking forward to getting two good starts and two good finishes tomorrow.”

Sylvain Guintoli – 9th, 1:42.984:
“I’m happy with my bike set-up, but not so happy with my position in Superpole. I should’ve gone faster in Superpole one, when I was on race tyres, but for some reason I didn’t. Now I know I’ve got a lot of work to do – and make especially good starts if I am to get good results.

“I struggled in some parts of the track today and although all of them are not sorted out completely, the main problem area has been solved. I don’t think we’ll make any changes to the bike in the warm-up tomorrow. The bike feels good, so the rest is up to me!”

—  Ten Kate

Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two second-round World Superbike championship races at Portimao in Portugal from the second row of the grid after setting the fifth fastest time in today’s qualifying sessions.

As Britain’s Cal Crutchlow took pole position, Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Max Neukirchner, qualified 13th fastest for the two 22-lap races around the undulating 4.592km Autodromo do Algarve tomorrow afternoon.

Rea has been making steady progress after his unsettling crash yesterday morning and improvements to his machine allowed the 23-year-old to set the fastest time in the second Superpole session. However, he was forced to use the second of his allocated qualifying tyres in that session, after failing to improve his time with the first.

Neukirchner, meanwhile, was pleased with some late improvements to his set-up,
despite a spectacular crash that destroyed his Honda CBR1000RR and left the 26-year-old German with a deep wound in his right forearm.

Jonathan Rea – P5 1’42.428s (Superpole 2)
I didn’t time that very well, did I? My first qualifier in Superpole 2 just didn’t work so I had to go out on the second and did my best time then, which would’ve put me second fastest. Grip levels have been down a bit since the test here and the track seems a little bumpier, especially in turns seven and fifteen, which is where I crashed yesterday. But I’ll say that I’m satisfied, because I’m still rebuilding myself after the crash, the bike is not so bad and we’re getting better at the one-lap wonders. The race is my thing though, and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because we have a package that’ll work for the duration. Our longer runs have shown that we should still have speed towards the end of the races. I’ll have to work hard in the first few laps tomorrow and get away with the leading group. I’ll then try to relax into a rhythm and, if we’re still there by lap 10, we’ll be in the hunt.

Max Neukirchner – P13 1’43.380s (Superpole 2)
At the end we found a way forward and then I had some bad luck in Superpole. But the important thing is that we were able to improve the bike, even by a little bit. I had a qualifier in when I crashed and I was nearly upright, but maybe the shock unloaded a bit too fast. I know it was big and the bike is destroyed and I have a big hole in my arm. I’ve got some painkillers now, but I know it’ll be sore later and, I hope, not too bad in the morning. We’ll try then to improve the bike more with the direction we found at the rear today. Then I’ll do my best to get good starts in the races and get the best results that I can.

Ronald ten Kate – team-manager
It’s been an up and down couple of days for both riders, but thankfully both are OK and ready to start tomorrow’s races. Jonathan’s confidence has returned after his crash yesterday and we made some progress with the bike to give him a good opportunity tomorrow. We still have some work to do with Max to find something that he’s comfortable with, and there’s lots of work to do tonight, but we’ll keep at it and look for more forward steps in the morning.