Melandri Claims Spectacular Maiden Pole at Aragon

In a thrilling Superpole session today at Aragon, Marco Melandri was flawless, qualifying in pole position with an impressive time of 1’57.634, while setting the new track record in the process.

The Italian completed two laps in the opening Superpole heat and confident to have recorded a sufficiently fast pace decided to save his qualifiers for the coming heats. The nail-biting dying seconds of the session saw several riders improve their lap times, bumping Melandri back to 12th.Team-mate Laverty wisely changed to a set of qualifiers with just 3 minutes to go and produced a flying lap taking him comfortably into Superpole two in first place. The second phase of the Superpole knockout was equally impressive with Laverty and Melandri concluding in third and seventh place respectively. Melandri performed impeccably in the third and final session, producing his fastest time on the first lap, setting the record time on the new Spanish track and claiming his maiden pole position in his World Superbike career. Having used his qualifiers in the previous heats, Laverty completed Superpole three in sixth place on a set of used race tyres.

A track temperature of at least 20 degrees less than that recorded in yesterday’s first qualifying session permitted all riders to improve their lap times in this morning’s second qualifying. Eugene Laverty had a less than perfect session, struggling with wheelie issues which he managed to improve prior to the afternoon’s free practice. A competitive qualifying session saw all 16 riders heading into the Superpole knockout with less than a second between them

Both Yamaha World Superbike rookies face tomorrow’s two races confident to be on top form and proving strong contenders for a Spanish podium. Melandri has his sights on a victory, in what will be a very competitive race day, on higher track temperatures.

Marco Melandri

Yamaha World Superbike Team - 1st, 1'57.634
"This is an amazing day. I really didn’t think I’d be in pole position, especially after the first Superpole where I risked not qualifying. My team has been working harder than ever since Misano and we’ve really come a long way and the bike is working very well. I’m really happy with today and I want to say thanks to Yamaha and all my team. The race tomorrow will be very difficult and competitive. A lot will depend on the heat of the track and tyre wear but hopefully it won’t be as windy as today."

Eugene Laverty

Yamaha World Superbike Team - 6th, 1'58.756
"It was a very tough morning. I didn’t find a good set up, so I wasn’t very confident. The team worked hard and we made huge improvements in the afternoon’s free practice and I regained confidence prior to Superpole. I knew I had to go out again in the first heat and improve my time even if that meant using a qualifier and only have one left. Unfortunately I also knew that then I couldn’t produce a faster lap in the third session. Marco, Checa and Biaggi will be very strong tomorrow but I’m sure I’ll be competitive as well."