There was light and shadow for the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team in the final Superpole qualifying of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship. Despite his injured right ankle, factory rider Marco Melandri equaled his second best qualifying result of the season. He finished the Superpole qualifying in a strong fourth with his BMW S 1000 RR and will start tomorrow's races at Jerez from the second row. His team-mate Chaz Davies struggled in the second part of Superpole and finished tenth. Superstock-1000-champion Sylvain Barrier, who debuts in World Superbikes on a third RR for the team, only narrowly missed qualifying for Superpole and will start from 16th.

To give his foot a rest before Superpole, Marco did not take part in the free practice early this afternoon. He was then the first rider to go out in Superpole 1. He only did one flying lap on race tyres, set the fastest time of the session and returned to the pits. Chaz also only needed one fast lap on race tyres to comfortably qualify for the second part of the Superpole. There, Marco did two laps on race tyres which directly brought him to Superpole 3. Chaz also began with race tyres and then did a second outing on a qualifying tyre, as he needed to improve his time. But the Welshman did not benefit from the extra-grip the tyre offers. He narrowly missed Superpole 3 by only a few hundredths of a second and had to settle for tenth. In the third and final session, Marco used his two qualifying tyres and set the fourth fastest time.

In the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, IDM champion Markus Reiterberger from Germany took over duties on Sylvain's BMW HP4. He finished sixth in today's second qualifying session and thus will start tomorrow's race from the second row. His team-mate Greg Gildenhuys qualified tenth on the other HP4 in the BMW Motorrad GoldBet STK Team.

Marco Melandri:

"On this track during winter testing the bike worked well and this weekend the bike has been working well too. This morning I chose to, and agreed with the team to sit out free practice to avoid overloading the ankle. Superpole was quite good, despite the fact I was not able to ride 100 percent in all sectors. In the first two Superpole sessions the ankle was okay, then in the third I started having some pain. I'm satisfied with the fourth place and I'm optimistic for tomorrow. We're so close to our competitors, the race pace is good and the bike is okay. This afternoon I'll do some more physio to the ankle to be fit for tomorrow."

Chaz Davies:

"I am not happy with today. It was a difficult afternoon. With the increasing temperatures we suffered from lack of grip. I crashed on the first lap of free practice and then in Superpole I was not able to get any advantage with the qualifying tyre which is something that happened to me for the first time this year. I could feel the grip but the way it was pushing the front did not allow me to use the tyre to its advantage. It was kind of frustrating because I did my best lap on a race tyre in Superpole 1 and after that I was not able to repeat it. We will now work on the set-up for the races as there are some areas where we still need to improve. We will check the data and see what we can do to be well prepared for tomorrow."

Sylvain Barrier:

"Of course I would have been very happy to be in Superpole but I missed it by one tenth of a second. It is my first time on this bike and that is part of the game so I am not really frustrated. We found some good settings for the race today and I am pretty happy for this. I'm getting more and more used to the bike and understand better what I can do with it. I did many laps on used tyres to find out how I can control the bike and I think it will be good in the race. The races will be very tough. I just need to keep calm and focus on braking, going through the apex and opening the throttle correctly. I am sure that during the race I will continue to learn as I can follow some riders and watch what they are doing. I am confident."

Serafino Foti (Sport Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):

"It was a quite positive day. Marco has some pain with his ankle but, despite everything, he did an excellent job in Superpole. Of course tomorrow will be much more difficult because the race is very long but given the fact he'll start in a good position he will do his best for the last races. Chaz unfortunately is not completely happy with the bike but he's very motivated to have two good races tomorrow. We'll continue working to set-up the bike and tomorrow morning in the warm up we'll check the work we will do. Sylvain is improving on each outing, it was a pity he didn't get into Superpole by just one tenth, even because he could have ridden some more laps getting more and more feeling with the bike. Tomorrow he'll do his best to have a good race.

In the Superstock 1000 Cup, Markus secured a good grid position on the second row. We are sure that he will make good use of it and have a strong race. He is an experienced rider and he got acquainted with the HP4 and the DDC pretty soon. So we are optimistic that he will claim a good result for BMW."

Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team):

"It was not an easy day for our three riders but overall we have improved the performance of the bikes. We fixed some of the issues the riders had complained about yesterday and as a consequence we saw an improvement in the lap times. Marco has shown us today how strong motivation can overcome the pain of an injury and we were honestly surprised by what he could do in Superpole. He did not to ride in the free practice to avoid stressing the ankle and for this reason we could not use the session to fine tune the bike but the set-up is not bad anyway. He was fast with used tyres and then he did a very promising lap time with a fresh tyre in Superpole. So I am confident that tomorrow he will try to say 'Goodbye' to BMW with a good result. Chaz has improved the handling of his machine, it is a bit more agile which is what he was looking for but he is not confident with the front end of the bike. This is limiting his performance. He could not make best use of the qualifying tyre because he did not have the proper feeling in the front end to push. This is the area we want to improve for the race.

Sylvain has improved his lap time a lot. Unfortunately he did not make it to the Superpole but it was very close. The good point is that every time he jumps on the bike he is improving his performance. Step by step he knows the bike better and he is able to get the best from it as we have seen in the second free practice where he made another step in tough conditions because the track temperature was high. So I expect that he can do a good race tomorrow. Race one will be important for him to understand how the competitors can handle 20 laps on a Superbike. It will be a good experience for him and I wish him all the best for tomorrow."

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