Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa had a difficult start to the World Superbike weekend at the Nurburgring. The former champion suffered a crash which meant he failed to set a qualifying time.

Unfortunately Checa crashed in the first minutes of afternoon qualifying practice, without having completed even one timed lap. Although it was a small crash the bike and rider were unable to return immediately to the garage due to the point of the track at which the crash took place.

The bike returned to the garage with twelve minutes left on the clock but the technicians were unable to fix it in time. The Spanish rider is angry that he lost out on precious lap time and hopes he can make up for lost time tomorrow.

“I’m angry and disappointed about the crash, I just lost the front. As a result we lost the entire session because they only brought the bike back to the garage a few minutes before the end. We needed today’s session, it was important, also because it might rain tomorrow. I didn’t even record one lap time. I hope it stays dry tomorrow morning so that I have a chance to enter the Superpole,” said Checa.