Works Yamaha's Marco Melandri has dragged himself out of a form nightmare to set the fastest lap in the second World Superbike qualifying session this morning at Magny-Cours while yesterday's leader Carlos Checa slumped to 10th fastest.
In a frantic final ten minutes which saw five different riders hit the top of the timesheet, Melandri's final lap of 1'38.171 was a tenth quicker than Sylvain Guintoli whose Liberty Ducati came back from an early technical fault to end in second, and was easily inside Noriyuki Haga's 2009 lap record.
Pata Aprilia's Haga was leading the field with 12 minutes left to run, knocking the PBM Kawasaki of Tom Sykes off top spot but the Japanese was only there for a lap when Troy Corser put his works BMW in first. The veteran Aussie was immediately deposed by Ayrton Badovini's 1'38.465 set on the satellite BMW Italia bike.
The reigning European Superstock 1000 Champion spent one lap in charge before Guintoli shot into the lead and Melandri parked himself in second with a lap just a tenth off the pace. He was replaced by Jakub Smrz a lap later but shot back to the top as the chequered flag appeared.
Leon Haslam, on the second factory S1000RR, is clearly struggling through the final sector as he is fastest in the first two splits but loses out on the run to the line. He finally set a lap good enough for fifth and is three-tenths off the pace, just ahead of Corser.
Haga finished the session in seventh overall with Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea eighth. The Irishman found half a second overnight but is still four-tenths in arrears while Sykes slid down to ninth but is only 0.024 slower than Rea.
Checa couldn't go faster than his time from yesterday and is four-tenths slower today but don't rule out the Spanish veteran. Eugene Lverty, second fastest yesterday, is another rider who couldn't find any more pace and is one place behind the Althea Ducati man.
Alitalia Aprilia's Leon Camier jumped up to fourth fastest early in the session but has slipped back to 14th overall despite knocking two-tenths off his time from yesterday. The former BSB Champion is suffering with front-end grip, or a lack of it.
