The higher temperatures at the Motorland Aragon circuit meant lap times were also slightly higher in this afternoon’s QP1 session, but Marco Melandri came away as the fastest rider after having lead almost the entire session until Max Biaggi tried to steal away the top spot, but the BMW rider retaliated posting a 1.
58.
608 lap in the final minutes that left the Aprilia rider in second and almost four tenths adrift, which Biaggi couldn’t respond to as he crashed out in his last flying lap.
Tom Sykes took third but he’s lacking a few tenths in the final sector.
Eugene Laverty continued to have a good day as he was fourth fastest on his factory Aprilia ahead of the BMW’s Leon Haslam and BMW Italia’s Ayrton Badovini (who crashed at turn 16) and Michel Fabrizio.
After his excellent fourth in the morning practice Chaz Davies ended up 8th on the satellite Aprilia, while Leon Camier and Carlos Checa rounded out the top ten.
Checa has yet to break into the 1.
59 barrier and it will be hard weekend for the Spaniard as it will for the rest of the Ducati riders (Ducati didn’t take part in the private two-day test at Aragon just ten days ago).
Jonathan Rea in his second ever session at the Spanish circuit (he missed last year’s round due to injury) finished in 14th but missed out the the last half hour with technical problems on his CBR.
Pedercini’s David Salom who was in doubt for this round after dislocating his already injured shoulder at Misano suffered a crash at turn3.
Debuting Norino Brignola ended up last again and he didn’t make the required 107% qualifying cut.
WSBK Aragon QP1 results:01- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – 1’58.
608 02- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
365 03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.
515 04- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
655 05- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
788 06- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.
143 07- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 1.
162 08- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.
538 09- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.
539 10- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
793 11- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
906 12- John Hopkins – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.
962 13- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 2.
007 14- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 2.
009 15- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 2.
032 16- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 2.
082 17- Maxime Berger – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 2.
543 18- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 3.
219 19- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 3.
357 20- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 3.
424 21- David Salom – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 4.
008 22- Leandro Mercado – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 4.
022 23- Norino Brignola – Grillini Progea Superbike Team – BMW S1000RR – + 8.
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