Championship leader Tom Sykes (KRT) will start Sunday’s 19-lap Superbike races from the second row of the grid after finishing sixth in Superpole 2. Fellow KRT rider Loris Baz is seventh after the end of the pre-race qualifying action, while KRT SBK Evo rider David Salom will be 14th on the grid.

Sykes was unable to make the most of a qualifying tyre in Superpole 2 despite riding at a circuit which he has performed well at in the past but the Englishman is confident that his race pace will see him compete at the front on Sunday. He scored two race wins at Imola last season on his Ninja ZX-10R and is out to extend his current championship lead of 12 points once again.

Baz and his pit crew made great improvements in the front-end set-up of his official Ninja ZX-10R in the final free practice session before Superpole and he pushed as hard as he could to go seventh in the second Superpole session.

From a third row grid position Loris is now looking to make two good starts. He is confident that he can keep a good pace in race conditions now he has found more confidence in his front end set-up at the undulating and challenging Imola circuit.

The KRT squad’s lone SBK Evo class rider, David Salom, finished 14th overall after Superpole One. At such a physical circuit as Imola David needs to push on the handlebars to make the best single lap time and the lingering effects of a right hand injury have prevented him from going as fast as he knows his machine set-up would allow.

David is more confident that he can keep a good race pace for Sunday and is now looking forward to two more chances to score points in both the overall and Evo Superbike rankings.


Tom Sykes:

“Things did not go to plan today. This weekend I have not been able to take the full benefit from a new rear race tyre. We were not able to use the bike to its true potential and unfortunately with the qualifying tyre it was the same. At the moment some of our opposition are using it better than us, which is strange because we have always been very strong in these qualifying conditions. This year we have been a little bit better in race performance than in qualifying, so we will see how it goes. I am on the second row of the grid but it is not the end of the world as we have two long races tomorrow. We just need to get stuck in because tomorrow one that counts. We have shown signs of being good over race distance so I would like to think we will be in a good position for the two races tomorrow.”

Loris Baz:

“Things were a little bit better today than yesterday because we have been struggling a little bit on this track. We just could not find a good pace at the beginning but we found some of the grip we were missing in the front during free practice four. We made a big step and in Superpole I did my best. I think we could have a good raceday because I can keep a good rhythm on a race tyre. We just have to see where we can be with the times we are doing. I am sure we can improve even more in the warm-up and we are not too bad. I am seventh on the grid and that means I start from the left side, which is not so bad at this circuit as you stay left all the way to the first corner.”

David Salom:

“This track has been a bit tough for me because I have had a lot of pain in the hand. I am not pushing too much with my right hand but I have to make up for that with my left arm. My bike now feels almost perfect, just a little, little problem under braking, but maybe that is just because of the reduced power in my hand. But the electronics, chassis and everything is good. It is hard to push for just one lap but I think we have a good pace over race distance. I think it will be possible to stay with the other Evo bikes and challenge.”

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