Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes feels he should have gone at least three-tenths faster during this afternoon’s Portimao World Superbike Superpole session and handed Davide Giugliano top spot as he was towing the Ducati man around.

Pirelli’s super-sticky qualifier didn’t caused Sykes a couple of small issues during his final fast lap and he thinks he should have been closer to his existing pole record of 1’41.360 but finished on a 1’41.880.

“Davide was just behind me, I was clearing the air and in some areas it helps. I think I gave him pole position there, but that’s racing. I have to accept that but he is a good guy,” said Sykes, speaking at Portimao.

“The lap wasn’t very good, it should have been three-tenths faster but I didn’t use the full potential. Tomorrow I am happy to be on the front row. We have a good feeling, we evaluated a couple of minor things in Superpole and now we need to talk some more and see about a couple more things. All in all, it’s a good package, the consistency is there and I am relaxed.”

Giugliano thinks his Panigale will work much better in tomorrow’s early morning first race and may be harder work in race two but Sykes says the Kawasaki will perform over both outings.

“We have seen in the past the Ducati is strong in the cooler conditions but the Kawasaki is also easier to manage in the colder conditions but we have a good package for the changing conditions.”