Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea took a provisional second row slot for Sunday's two 12th round World Superbike championship races at Magny-Cours in France after setting the sixth fastest time in this afternoon's first qualifying practice session.

Fresh from his race one victory in Imola, Italy last weekend, the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland was in confident mood after this morning’s free practice, which he completed without resorting to softer race rubber.

Provisional pole position – and just three tenths faster than Rea, as the top 15 riders were covered by less than one second – was taken by series leader, Carlos Checa, who needs only three points from this weekend’s races to secure the 2011 World Superbike title. However, Rea’s Castrol Honda team-mate, Ruben Xaus was unable to compete in this afternoon’s session after crashing on his out lap in this morning’s free practice.

The Spanish rider suffered an uncomfortable muscle strain in his neck following a high-speed get-off and he was advised by circuit medical staff to sit out this afternoon. Xaus’s condition will be re-assessed before tomorrow morning’s second qualifying session.

Jonathan Rea – P6 1m38.957s

It was quite difficult this afternoon because I was in and out of the garage quite a lot, trying to sort out little issues. We found a bit of rhythm towards the end of the session though and the bike felt OK, although we’re still struggling a little in one sector. We need to make some changes to help that and, like last year, the long left at the bottom of the hill is causing some problems. I think I’m rushing in a bit and trying to scrub off speed with too much lean angle, so we’ll look at all that tonight. We had a good session this morning on the harder race tyre and we’ve got a pretty good idea how that’ll end up, but temperature will be quite critical here.

Ruben Xaus

It was a very bad start to the day, just on my out lap for free practice this morning and I was coming up the hill to the fast left. When I closed the throttle, it felt like the gas didn’t shut off properly and I ran off the track, going quite fast towards the air fence. My neck is quite sore and the doctors advised me to take it easy this afternoon and not ride. I hope it is not too stiff in the morning when we will assess the situation again.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

Well the first thing is that we hope Ruben will be declared fit by the circuit doctors tomorrow so that we can continue the progress with him. On Jonathan’s side of the garage we still have some issues to resolve – some relating to riding lines and some to suspension and the new ride-by-wire system. But we are not far away from the front so hopefully we can make some good changes for tomorrow. So far we are, once again, quite happy with the new system.

2011 World Superbike championship, round 12 – Magny-Cours, France
First qualifying results:

1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 1m38.652s
2 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Yamaha 1m38.664s
3 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Ducati 1m38.741s
4 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 1m38.860s
5 Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati 1m38.942s
6 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Castrol Honda 1m38.957s

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