Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam made a gamble that failed to pay off in the World Superbike Superpole sessions at a very wet Magny-Cours. He was one of the first riders out on intermediate tyres in the wet-dry conditions of Superpole one but crashed near the end of the session.

The 30-year-old British rider managed to bring the bike back to the pits for repairs but, on his return to the track, he hit two damp patches as he pushed to reach Superpole two and was unable to progress. The Smalley lad is unsure if he has progressed during the weekend because of his crashes and the lack of dry track time, but is confident that he has the race pace to keep up with the rest of the pack heading into the two main races on Sunday.

“I went out with intermediates when others were on full wets and I hit a wet patch and crashed. I was able to go out again on the same tyres but made another big mistake with the one lap that I got and that was that,” said Haslam.

“The pace was easy enough to stay with but I made a mistake with the crash and then another when I managed to get back out. We haven’t had any more dry time today so it’s hard to say whether we’ve made any progress. Tomorrow will be a gamble, wet or dry, so we’ll have to see how it goes."