Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio didn’t get the big improvement he was hoping for in today’s final Qualifying and Superpole at Portimao in Portugal for the final round of the World Superbike Championship tomorrow and the Italian will have to start tomorrow’s pair of 22 lap races from the fourth row of the grid.
The team changed the entire braking system in a bid to alleviate yesterday’s problems, and there was an improvement, but not enough for Fabrizio to push as hard as he wanted. His place on the fourth row means he will need two superb starts if he is to have any chance of good results.
Jonathan Rea (Honda) won Superpole today with a lap of 1:41.712, which was inside the lap record. Second is Carlos Checa (Ducati) with Yamaha team-mates Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri in third and fourth
Michel Fabrizio – 14th, 1:43.661:
“The team changed the whole braking system and the bike felt a bit better, but not enough for me to push really hard. At the moment, I do not have enough confidence to be more aggressive and that is a bit frustrating; both for me and the team. They also made other changes to the bike, but I didn’t feel comfortable on the bumps – and there are a lot of them here!
“The fourth row is obviously not a good place to start, but I am hopeful that I can make good starts and get good results – as long as the problems have been solved. It’s going to be a long, hard day tomorrow, but whatever happens I will do my best.”
Final Qualifying and Superpole: 1 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:41.712, 2 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:41.951, 3 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:42.173, 4 Marco Melandri (ITA-Yamaha) 1:42.259, 5 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Ducati) 1:42.267, 6 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:42.710. 14 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki) 1:43.661.