Nurburgring WSB: Biaggi storms to unexpected pole position

Max Biaggi fired a warning shot to his championship rivals by taking an unexpected Superpole win – his first pole position of the 2012 season. Following a string of disappointing results in recent races that has seen Biaggi surrender his series lead to Marco Melandri, the factory Aprilia man showed once again that he can never be written off.

He said: “It was a good lap and I’m happy. We’ve been working well all weekend and we’ve been helped by stable weather conditions – no rain and no sun. Heading into the races I am happy with what I’ve got. For sure tomorrow will be difficult but I will try my best.”

Factory Kawasaki man Tom Sykes was unable to add to his tally of seven pole positions this season and had to settle for second for the second race in succession. Sykes has shown strong pace all weekend and even tried to improve his best time in Superpole 3 using a standard race tyre.

He said: “We’ve been working hard all weekend just like we did in Moscow. Unlike the start of the year we don’t seem to get the same benefits with the qualifiers on the Kawasaki as we did. I wasn’t actually happy with my lap on the qualifier so I went out and tried again, but overall I’m happy.”

Championship leader Marco Melandri was another man in top form securing third position on his factory BMW meaning that the top three in the championship standings are all on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s races.

Irishman Eugene Laverty continued his impressive form to claim fourth on the grid alongside the three title rivals.

Former Nurburgring winner Jonathan Rea claimed fifth place ahead of reigning champion Carlo Checa would could only manage sixth spot.

Seventh place went to a resurgent Leon Camier and his Fixi Crescent Suzuki squad who are finally showing what they are capable of during their rookie WSB season. 

Chaz Davies ended the day in tenth spot with Leon Haslam finishing 12th after suffering a crash during the opening minutes of Superpole 2.

Nurburgring – FIM Superbike World Championship – Superpole 3

1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’53.855
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’53.904
3. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’53.912
4. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’54.148
5. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’54.300
6. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’54.322
7. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’55.165
8. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’55.734
9. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’54.540
10. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’54.800
11. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’55.671
12. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’55.082
13. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’56.290
14. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’56.530
15. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 
16. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 
17. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’56.246
18. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’56.465
19. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’57.101
20. Lorenzo Lanzi (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1’57.504
21. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’57.729
22. Brett McCormick (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’58.177
23. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’58.567
24. Norino Brignola (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1’59.385