Building on last week’s Superbike race 1 win at Imola, Jonathan Rea grabbed his first pole position of the season at Magny Cours, however all the attention will be focused on Carlos Checa – if heaven forbid, nothing catastrophic happens – who will take the championship title, the first of his long career.
Here’s what some of the riders had to say after today’s very tight Superpole:Jonathan Rea – 1stIt was a strong lap but we’ve had a good base for most of the weekend and we knew we had to make an extra step to make Sunday more comfortable.
The guys gave me a great bike in free practice this afternoon and transformed some things with the balance of the bike, which gave me more confidence to push.
So I kind of expected to be somewhere near the front but I didn’t expect the lap time to be that fast.
We had a good Superpole 1 and that freed us up with the qualifiers for Superpole 2 and 3, so everything worked out perfectly.
The big step we made in free practice means I can be quite consistent on my preferred race tyre, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow now.
The team did a great job today, so I’d like to thank everyone.
Eugene Laverty – 2nd“This was the first place I tested the R1 last year and was strong immediately so I was really looking forward to coming back here again.
It’s always nice to go back to a track you know well and have had good results before, it helps gain confidence.
I was hoping to get the pole position but Rea just beat me to it so I’ll be aiming for that in Portimao, it would be nice to get aTissot watch before the end of the year.
I’d like to get another race win, it’s been a while since Monza, but I’d be happy with rostrums as the last time I was up there was in Silverstone so I’ll be aiming for two solid finishes on Sunday.
”Carlos Checa – 3rd“We thought that we’d be able to fight for a position on the front row and we managed to do that today.
We had a few problems between the first and second Superpole phases but my technicians worked extremely hard to resolve these and we took a great result in the end.
We made a big step forward at Imola in terms of points but we’ve come here to work as we do each work, giving it our all in each session and each race.
There’s a great atmosphere in the garage but my team is as professional as ever.
We are enjoying the moment of course but tomorrow we will do everything that we normally do, as well as we can.
There should be good weather and lots of fans and so I want to enjoy myself and make two great races – it will surely be an unforgetable day.
”Leon Camier – 5th“We’ve taken some good steps forward, partially resolving the problems which kept us from being fast in the sessions yesterday.
If we look at our race pace we can definitely make a play for it, even with the times as incredibly close as they are.
Starting from the front row is a step forward compared to our usual position: I was able to use the soft tyres well to get into the top eight and I took fourth place in the end with the race tyre.
I still need something more to be competitive with the best, but all told I’m quite confident for tomorrow.
” Tom Sykes – 6th“We made quite a big change in Superpole and we have been struggling in the first sector all weekend.
So we made a compromise set-up but unfortunately on race tyres in Superpole One I just didn’t quite have my head around it and I had to use a qualifying tyre.
It was touch and go because I think and there were only two riders who did not use qualifying tyres then.
In Superpole Two, on a Q tyre, I did a 1’37.
6 lap and so in Superpole Three we had to use an old qualifying tyre.
It wasn’t ideal but at one time I thought I would still be able to sneak a front row start but it wasn’t to be.
Big credit to the team because we are there and thereabouts this weekend again and we have a lot of information to take into tomorrow’s races.
”Leon Haslam – 7th“We had a few issues in Superpole, which made the bike quite difficult to ride.
If we can sit down now and solve these issues before tomorrow then a podium finish is certainly what we are aiming to achieve.
We have been strong so far this weekend and the times are good on race tyres, but we just need to make some small improvements then we will be in a good position for the races.
Right now starting positions and lap times are not what I am thinking about because we know if everything falls into place then we can be right up there.
”Marco Melandri – 8th“Today was both a positive and a negative qualifying day.
We made good progress with our race pace this morning in the second qualifying session, but just like in the last few rounds I have struggled with the qualifying tyres.
I’ll be starting tomorrow’s two races from the second row on the grid which means it won’t be easy but I’m confident that we have a more competitive package than we had in Imola.
I’ll do my best to get off to a good start and push through the pack hoping for a podium finish.
”Noriyuki Haga – 9th“I’m confident for tomorrow’s race.
Of course it would have been better starting off the second row but I made a mistale while I was trying to overtake Corser and I couldn’t improve my time.
We’ll make some setting changes and and see if we can aim for the top.
”Joan Lascorz – 10th“We made improvements in qualifying this weekend and we made it into Superpole, then progressed to Superpole Two.
We could not get into the final session but we still qualified inside the top ten.
For sure row three is a lot better than row five, where I was last weekend.
Our times on a race set-up are also not so bad so I am hoping to be able to make two good starts and hope to run at least in the second group.
”Troy Corser – 12th“It was a tough session.
The qualifying tyres didn’t really improve my time as I was able to do the same times on race tyres, and that cost us in the end.
It is a little frustrating because in order to qualify well you need to be going faster on the softer tyres, otherwise you won’t be able to match the speed of the other guys who can.
But on race tyres the bike is working really well and I am happy with the set-up, so let see what happens tomorrow.
Around here you need to get away well and run with the leaders, otherwise it can become very difficult to make up the time.
A lot will depend on the first lap tomorrow.
We have been in the top five all weekend so we are optimistic.
”Michel Fabrizio – 14th“Obviously I am very disappointed how things have turned out today.
Yesterday was not good, but the team and I felt that we would find some solutions to our problems and improve, but it didn’t turn out that way.
We seemed to have tried everything possible, but the bike is still giving me problems on the brakes and on acceleration out of the turns.
We’ve tried going back to our base set-up, but even that hasn’t worked as we expected, so we will have to try some more ideas and hopefully I can then push the bike harder.
Of course, my grid position is not good and I am going to have to make two superb starts if I am to have any chance of doing well tomorrow.
If we can get the bike working better, I know that I can keep up a good race pace and chase some decent results.
If we don’t improve the bike, the races are going to be very hard indeed.
I remain positive that the team will improve the bike in the warm-up and then I will have a chance in the races.
Ayrton Badovini – 16th“I’m not happy because we got a result in practice that we were unable to repeat in Superpole.
For tomorrow I am more confident as today’s pace promises a tough race as we are all very close.
It has been my worst qualifying of the season.
The races will be better.
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