A front row start for the third and fourth races of the season signal an impressive return from injury for British BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider, Leon Haslam. Having broken his right tibia at official pre-season testing in Phillip Island before the first round, Haslam was unable to get his title campaign off to the start that he wanted.

However, he has made up for that with consistently fast performances on his S 1000 RR across the Qualifying and Superpole sessions at Imola, in Italy, this weekend. After pitting for a qualifying tyre with five minutes to go in Superpole 3, his best time of 1’47.458 was enough to secure fourth place on the grid for tomorrow’s two 21-lap races.

BMW Motorrad Motorsport team-mate, Marco Melandri, also enjoyed a strong start to the weekend at his home circuit. Having set a best time of 1’47.642 – just two tenths of a second off Haslam – Marco will start the races from row two on the grid in sixth position.

It’s been a more challenging weekend for the BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK team, who have been unable to find the optimum set-up for their bikes at the 4.936km Italian track. Newly signed Michel Fabrizio failed to make Superpole and will start tomorrow’s races from 18th on the grid. His team-mate, Ayrton Badovini, will start just two positions ahead of him in 16th place, having finished 1.6 seconds off pole in Superpole 1. The pair are hoping for strong support from a home crowd tomorrow to help them progress through the field.

Leon Haslam:

“I have had a good feeling with the bike all weekend. We did not change too many things. We have found a good set-up from the first day and have been working in a good way. We were struggling a bit with the qualifying tyre which gave us some chatter. I was actually quicker with the medium tyres. We got it a bit wrong with the tyre selection for the Superpole, but we still managed it to get to the front row. So I am happy with that. A good start is very important here and for sure Max Biaggi, Sylvain Guintoli, Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes are competitive in the race. Hopefully we can be battling with these guys and I will try to get BMW’s first win.”

Marco Melandri:

“I can say I am happy because after we struggled yesterday I could not expect to make it to the second row. It is a very good result. After the free practice I was disappointed because I lost many tenths in Acque Minerali as I had some issues with chattering. I had to ride very close to the limit and could not keep the perfect line. For the last session we kept the race tyre, as we remembered that last year on this track nearly everybody was struggling with chattering with the qualifying tyre. And this decision was quite good. For tomorrow I hope that it will be cooler than today because we go well on hard tyres. It is going to be a tough and not easy race, but we will do our best.”

Andrea Dosoli, Head of Race Operations:

“It has been a very positive day for both riders because we could improve the lap times compared to yesterday and fix some issues. We are not only fast on a flying lap, but we are also consistent on the racing tyre. It was our target to start from the first row and we believe that we can fight with the top guys for the podium. I want to thank both crews, they have done a good job during this weekend so far.”

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