Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty must be wondering what it will take to bag his first World Superbike pole postion after being pipped for top spot by Tom Sykes for the second meeting in a row - this time by just 78 one-thousandths of a second at Monza.

Laverty finished in second place, immediately ahead of team mate Sylvain Guintoli, who is currently leading the World Superbike standings. The two battled it out at record breaking lap times with Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes, but after two laps, it was the Huddersfield lad who took home the pole in the end.

Superpole held few surprises for the two Aprilia men. The first session ended with Guintoli in first place and Laverty second. In Superpole two Guintoli came through the session in fourth place and Laverty in fifth. These results obtained without the use of their qualifier tyres, which were then used in the decisive session. With this result Laverty is on the front row for the eighth consecutive time. On the other hand this will be Guintoli's first start from the front row on his RSV4.

During Superpole three Laverty thought that he made it on to pole with his lap time of 1’41.30, but no sooner as the Irishman made it across the line, Sykes followed suit but went just that little bit faster.

“At one point I thought I had done it, but Tom beat me by 78 one thousandths of a second. Actually second place on the front row is still an excellent result when you consider our race pace,” said Laverty.

“Tomorrow I hope to be able to take advantage of the full potential of my RSV4. The Aprilias are consistently the fastest and that is an important advantage for us. Monza is a special track. Its characteristics adapt perfectly to my bike and the strong points of my riding style”.

Laverty will not be the only Aprilia on the front row, as he will have Guintoli for company. The French rider feels that this is his best Superpole with the team, and feels prepared for the races tomorrow.

“We did a lot of good work, preparing as best as possible in terms of race pace and tyre management. This is my best Superpole so far with Aprilia but we still haven't taken the top spot. In any case it will be important to start from the front row tomorrow,” said Guintoli.

“Especially since it looks like there are several riders who can definitely make a play for the win, so I expect two heated races. Tomorrow we are looking forward to having some fun, giving the fans a good show and leaving Monza with some rich spoils”.