Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes was unable to improve on his best lap of 2’05.355 that he clocked in yesterday’s World Superbike qualifying practice session, but even though Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier managed to close the gap on his last lap to three hundredths of a second, it was not enough to snatch provisional pole.
This morning Sykes could only manage the sixth quickest time with a 2’05.970 but his impressive lap on Friday meant he was able to retain his top of the timesheet status. Camier was the fastest rider out on track in the final practice session, with his best lap of 2’05.383, and he managed to go nearly a second quicker than yesterday.
Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli rode through the pain to bag himself a provisional front row start. The crocked rider made his way to the top of the timesheets with 30 minutes of the session remaining, with a 2’05.569 lap. The Frenchman is still struggling with a shoulder injury after falling off his push bike a few weeks ago.
His team-mate Eugene Laverty also improved from yesterdays qualifying practice session but could not match the pace of Guintoli and was only three hundredths of a second slower to clocked the fourth fastest time with a 2’05.592.
Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano rounded off the top five, with Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea in sixth. When the chequered flag appeared the Northern Irishman was fourth, but last laps from Laverty and Giugliano pushed him back down to sixth quickest followed by Kawasaki’s Loris Baz and Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel.
GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies clocked the tenth fastest time, with his improved lap of 2’06.057, and did manage to go two tenths of a second quicker than his Italian team-mate Marco Melandri who finished the session eleventh fastest overall.
