Honda's Jonathan Rea stuck his 2012 Fireblade on the provisional second row during the opening World Superbike qualifying session at Imola this afternoon, using a new swingarm to do it, but has warned his outright onelap pace has not yet been achieved.

Rea posted the sixth-fastest time but was less than two-tenths behind polesitter Jakub Smrz. The Irishman admits he is struggling with stability with fast changes of direction but tweaks to the new swingarm may help that.

"We had a pretty smooth day, really and tested a new swingarm this morning and kept it for this afternoon. Already, the pace is quite fast – similar to last year – so we’re working to improve a little. Our consistency is quite good but the out-and-out lap time to go clear at the front isn’t coming yet," said Rea.

"Whilst we continue to look for a better time, we have to keep race set-up in the back of our minds because last year we were able to manage the race quite well. We’ve got a few changes to try tomorrow morning which will hopefully help us in areas where we’re struggling, like stability under quick changes of direction. When we do that I think we’ll be ready for Superpole but the target for tomorrow is to get on the front row with a good setting for Sunday."