BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Leon Haslam will start on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s two races at Silverstone, after qualifying fourth fastest on his BMW S 1000 RR in tricky conditions at the UK track. Team-mate Marco Melandri will start one row further back after qualifying in sixth place.

Rapidly changing weather conditions meant that a ‘wet’ Superpole was declared, giving the top 16 riders two, 20-minute sessions in which to bravely negotiate fast laps around the 5.9 km Northamptonshire track.

The first session started in sunshine, although the track was still visibly wet, with early lap times some 24 seconds slower than they would have been in the dry. As the session neared its conclusion, positions were changing every few seconds as the battle to finish in the top eight and avoid elimination threw up several surprises, with championship leader Max Biaggi not even making the final cut. In the end, Marco Melandri went safely through in fifth, with Leon Haslam taking the eighth and final spot.

The rain returned just before the start of the second session, but that didn’t stop the final eight riders heading out in search of a quick lap, in case the conditions deteriorated further still. Pushing each other lap by lap, the times continued to tumble – as did the riders themselves – with pole specialist Tom Sykes first to fall halfway through the session, followed by last year’s double race winner Carlos Checa soon after, and then his team-mate Davide Guigliano becoming the next victim.

With deeply-grooved Pirelli wet tyres on, both Leon and Marco headed back out on track, with a determined Leon setting a provisional front row time on his first flying lap, followed by an even faster time of 2:21.613 – good enough for provisional pole position with just one lap left of the session! However, fellow Brit Leon Camier then went quicker, before Jakub Smrz posted an even faster time and snatched pole right from under the nose of the two Brits. A late charge in the dying seconds by Sylvain Guintoli relegated Leon to fourth place, while Marco finished in sixth – behind Guigliano but in front of Checa and Sykes – ensuring an unpredictable but interesting front two rows of the grid for tomorrow’s two races.

Leon Haslam:

“I am really happy. It is always nice to start from the front row, especially at the home race. We just had two or three laps of wet weather testing on Friday and then I did not have a good feeling. But the guys worked really hard and every lap we did and every time we changed the bike we made some good improvements. The conditions were difficult. Some were pushing maybe a little bit too much too early, and there were many crashes. We took our time and went faster with every lap. When I crossed the chequered flag I was P1, which was nice for a short while! To have a front row start tomorrow is important and I am looking forward to the races. The target is always to win. We still have some more work to do before the races but I am feeling very comfortable. I think the biggest decisions will depend on the weather.”

Marco Melandri:

“This was another very tough day. The conditions were really difficult with rain showers and changing grip levels at different parts of the track. In the dry we could not have hoped for a starting position like this as we were again struggling with chattering. In wet conditions the Superpole was not too bad. Still, it was not easy. Just before I went out on my last run it started raining very hard in the second sector. I was really scared of aquaplaning. So I chose to take it easy. Tomorrow will be difficult, as you never know what weather will be like here. If it is dry tomorrow morning, we will make a small change to the setup to be ready for all conditions.”

Andrea Dosoli, Head of Race Operations BMW Motorrad Motorsport:

“Overall I am satisfied with the job done by our riders and the crews. Both Leon and Marco will start tomorrow’s races out of the first two rows. These are good grid positions considering from where we started yesterday. Both crews worked hard to improve the performance of the RR. In dry conditions the steps made were quite well, although there is still room for improvement, mainly for the race pace. Both Leon and Marco need to be a few tenth quicker in order to fight with Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes, and the crews will work hard to get this done. I am very happy with Leon’s performance and result today. Although I am sure we will be competitive with both riders tomorrow, we will continue to work hard to get the best possible results tomorrow.”

.