At the end of an intense day of work at the Brno circuit, Carlos Checa and the Althea Racing team closed the eighth Superpole of the season in third position.
It is worth noting that this is the seventh time in eight events that Carlos will line up on the front row of the Superbike grid.
On a very hot track (109˚F), the SBK riders were out on track for the second qualifying this morning. Times did not improve from yesterday and noone was able to better Carlos' best time of yesterday afternoon. Seventh in this session, with a best lap of 2'00.2, Checa's fastest time from the first qualifying session guaranteed that he qualified in first position for the afternoon's Superpole.
During the early afternoon's final practice session, the Althea Racing rider consolidated his performance, closing the session with the second overall fastest time on an increasingly hot track (123˚F). Perhaps due to the heat, the times of almost all the riders were slightly higher than those of the morning, though Carlos was able to record a best of 2'00.1.
Superpole 1: Carlos went out for the first Superpole phase on race rubber and just one fast lap was good enough to project him to second place on the timesheets, meaning he could return to the garage, having done more than enough to qualify for phase two.
Superpole 2: As in the first session, Althea's flagbearer needed to make just one lap during this twelve minute session. He immediately recorded a 1m58.9 which remained the fastest lap of the mini-session overall; he thus closed this second phase in first position.
Superpole 3: Carlos completed two fast laps during this final phase, the first of which positioned him third in the final standings. Thanks to this time, Checa and the Althea Racing team will line up in third position on the grid for tomorrow's all-important races.
Carlos Checa:
"I think we did a great job throughout the whole weekend. We didn't have any particular
expectations; we followed our normal work programme and are happy with the outcome. Qualifying went well and we finished third in Superpole. It will be a tough battle especially against Max and Marco tomorrow as you can see they have a strong pace but I believe we can stay with them at the front, this is the objective at least. Tomorrow's races will have a lot to do with the tyres, the temperature and the general conditions, and we'll see how we measure up against the others. But considering that this is not one of our favourite tracks, we are satisfied with today's result."
TIMES (Superpole): 1. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'58.5; 2. Melandri (Yamaha) 1'58.8; 3. Checa (Ducati) 1'58.9; 4. Laverty (Yamaha) 1'59.0; 5. Smrz (Ducati) 1'59.5; 6. Fabrizio (Suzuki) 1'59.9; 7. Camier (Aprilia) 1'59.9; 8. Sykes (Kawasaki) 2'00.3
[Press Release Courtesy of Althea Ducati]
