Today’s Superpole session at Imola showed why Carlos Checa will soon be winning the 2011 World Superbike title (he just needs 26 points over Marco Melandri) as he took his 6th pole position of the season on race tires and not qualifiers, which starting tongues wagging again on Pirelli favouring Ducati.
Here’s what some of the riders said about their Superpole session.
Carlos Checa – 1st“I’m really happy with today’s pole because it comes just at the right time.
I was having some problems with the first Q tyre and had to use the second, to then do the final stage without a qualifier.
I gave it my all in the final phase and was able to make a very fast, very clean lap, but you always have that doubt at the end that maybe someone went faster in the final seconds! Rea was really strong today and I knew he’d be there on the front row.
I’m looking forward to two really competitive races tomorrow.
” Jonathan Rea – 2ndWe were nearly there! I made a mistake on my first lap in Superpole three and, although I had another go, I’d used up most of the tyre by then.
But it’s SO nice to be back here and, although Superpole is pretty minor compared to the races, we’re in a good position, so I’m really looking forward to them.
It’s been a big journey to get here, recovering from injury with the help of medical staff and my family, but the team has also been working so hard with this new system.
While I’m really looking forward to racing here at Imola tomorrow, we’ve got one eye on 2012 and I’ve a sneaking suspicion we can be quite competitive then as well.
Noriyuki Haga – 3rd“It’s been a day of working on the setting.
It’s not an easy track and it’s vital to be prepared for the races.
I’m really happy about the third session of this Superpole because that tyre gave us great feedback.
I’m confident about tomorrow and, even though I know it won’t be easy, I’ll do my best to hit the goal to step up on the podium.
”Tom Sykes – 4th “We had some success in Germany with a win at the last round but wet conditions are a great levelling factor, and I had a good package to work with as well.
The test we did at Misano recently was also good in the dry.
We confirmed some geometry and chassis settings there that we had been trying out and I was considerably faster than the race at Misano this year.
We kept those settings on the bike and came here with minimal changes, and it all shows that we are getting there now.
The 1’47.
799 I did to lead combined qualifying this morning I was happy with, as it was done on a relatively hard race tyre.
We are not in a bad situation.
After Superpole Two I was quite confident to get pole position but I think we had reached our limit.
A front row place in dry conditions is another step forward for all of us in the team.
We also got away with using a race tyre in Superpole One so that was a refreshing change.
”Eugene Laverty – 5th“It was a much better day today than yesterday which is obvious from my position.
Initially I wasn’t sure where I’d be today but I was confident it would go much better after our lengthy de-brief last night, where I understood the direction we needed to go in to make the difference.
I am fortunate to be in a team with such good experience.
The issue I had yesterday was new brand new for me, I never had that sensation on the bike before, and it’s nice that we were able to turn things around so quickly.
I’ll be fighting for the podium tomorrow but it’ll be tough.
”Leon Haslam – 6th“I have been feeling confident all weekend and we managed to get the bike working well yesterday.
That gave me a lot of confidence coming into Superpole but today we had a few issues with the bike which made things difficult.
We still managed to qualify on the second row of the grid however, which is a good position to be in going into tomorrow’s races.
On the whole I am feeling pretty happy and looking forward to tomorrow.
”Marco Melandri – 9thI’m relatively pleased with the day today.
We improved the race pace quite lot and did a good run with race tyres in the second qualifying session which went quite well.
Unfortunately the qualifying tyres in Superpole didn’t work out at all.
We struggled from chattering in both in the second session and after half a lap the tyre lacked performance and I wasn’t able to improve my times.
It’s a pity as we have a good race pace but now we’ll have to push hard to get in front on a track where it’s not easy to overtake.
”Leon Camier – 10th“I was expecting this.
I worked all weekend with the soft tyre on my fast lap.
The changes we made to my RSV4 in the last session before Superpole improved the problem with chattering I was having and in the end they helped me to be quicker.
What happened in the second Superpole session is a shame.
Everyone was really close and in the last few seconds I dropped to tenth place.
With my good race pace I’m able to see the glass half full.
I’ll have to get a good start tomorrow and stay focused to keep up a fast pace, trying to move forward as many positions as possible”.
Michel Fabrizio – 11thWell, I am frustrated with my Superpole.
All weekend, I have been in the top five in the standings and I was feeling very positive about Superpole.
My pace on race rubber has been consistently fast and I was happy because my bike set-up was good.
But, as soon as we put qualifying tyres on the bike, it behaved differently.
I got bad chattering – so bad that I couldn’t work out if it was from the front or the rear – or maybe both! Because of this, I couldn’t push the bike harder and so couldn’t go fast enough to get into final Superpole and a chance of a front row grid place.
It’s been a disappointing end to the day and now I am once again facing the prospect of having to make two great starts if I am to have any chance of good results.
Although the first turn seems a long way away, I still have to make super starts and try and be in the top four going into the first chicane or otherwise I will get held up and it will be even more difficult.
Hopefully, nobody will make a big break at the start and I can be with the leaders.
It’s not just because this race is taking place in my home country, I want to do well in all races.
Of course, there are lot of my fans here, so I would love to get on the podium tomorrow.
Federico Sandi – 14th“I didn’t have any experience of the Pirelli tyres with this bike until this weekend and so I needed some time to get used to them.
Having said that, I was satisfied with how we were going this morning and hoped to do a little better than I did in the Superpole, maybe even reaching the second phase.
Fourteenth, seeing as I’m on track with so many fast guys, isn’t bad but I hoped for something more.
We’re all really close in terms of times though so I hope to be able to make two great races tomorrow.
” Troy Corser – 15th“We have been improving with every session this weekend and we have found a pretty good set-up on race tyres.
Sadly when we changed to qualifying tyres we were not able to take advantage of the extra grip.
I actually set my fastest lap on race tyres but that wasn’t good enough to progress further in Superpole today.
Still, we are happy with the race set-up.
We just need a good start tomorrow in both races and then let’s see what happens from there.
”Joan Lascorz – 18th“We were much better in this afternoon session and it would have been a good enough time to get into Superpole.
We had problems stopping the bike because of the settings at one stage and of course it was even worse as there are some downhill braking areas here too.
We made the bike a little bit longer to help this and also to help us not wheelie so much.
Normally I run the bike shorter than Tom but not at this track.
Tomorrow will be complicated as it is difficult to pass here but I hope I can overtake many riders in the early laps.
”Ruben Xaus – 20thWell it’s been another busy day as we work with the new system.
It’s obviously working well with Johnny but I’m still having a few problems getting it to work well for me.
There is lots of information to work through tonight but we always knew this weekend was going to be a bit of a test for me and the new system.
Hopefully, something will be seen in the data tonight that will give us something to try tomorrow.