Tricky weather conditions added to the excitement of qualifying at Monza today with BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Marco Melandri making the best of the circumstances to qualify third on the grid for tomorrow’s two Superbike World Championship races.

The weekend had been extremely positive for all BMW riders in Monza leading up to this afternoon’s Superpole, with BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK team rider Michel Fabrizio leading home a BMW 1-2-3 in the first qualifying session, thanks to a scorching one minute 42.325 second lap that he set near the end of the session.

Fabrizio had also equalled the best top speed in WSBK history yesterday when he clocked 334.8 km/h down the main straight on his S 1000 RR. BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Marco Melandri was second fastest in Friday’s Qual 1 – just 0.053 seconds adrift – with team-mate Leon Haslam in third. Fabrizio’s team-mate Ayrton Badovini took fifth place on his RR.

Heavy rain saw damp conditions this morning, which meant that no-one was able to improve their times, and so it was Michel Fabrizio who began a ‘wet’ Superpole session as the fastest rider. This was the second consecutive wet Superpole, which means that the usual three-stage eliminator format is replaced by two, 20-minute sessions. The fastest 16 riders from combined qualifying would compete in the first session, while only the top eight would progress to the second session to determine the front two rows of the grid.

The first session at the legendary Italian track took place in cool temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius, with most riders lapping close to the two-minute mark and feeling their way around the damp track. Having dropped outside the top eight, Melandri pushed for a faster time with the session drawing to its conclusion. In the closing minutes the Italian posted a lap of 1:57.545 to claim provisional pole. However, as the session finished, the other RR riders Michel Fabrizio, Ayrton Badovini and Leon Haslam unwittingly found themselves outside the top eight and were therefore unable to progress to the final session, finishing in 11th, 13th and 14th respectively.

With just Melandri representing the German brand in the final qualifying session, the 2011 WSBK runner-up set his fastest lap of 1:55.971 right at the beginning of the session and then held provisional pole for 17 minutes of the 20 minute session, before Sylvain Guintoli went ahead. With the track drying in places, Melandri went out with an intermediate front and rear qualifier on but was unable to improve his time. That said, he will nonetheless start from the front row of the grid in third place for tomorrow’s two races.

Marco Melandri:

“Today’s conditions were really difficult. After our experiences in Assen I was quite worried about today’s Superpole in the wet. But we can be very happy today. BMW Motorrad did a great job, so a big thanks to all my team. The bike is working better and better, and we can concentrate on the small things that make the difference. I hope for good weather tomorrow, then everything is possible for us. Our engine is really strong, and I will be aiming for good starts tomorrow, because in the first corner you can already lose the races here. I want to dedicate my races tomorrow to my crew chief Silvano Galbusera who cannot be here with us today. All the best Silvano!”

Leon Haslam:

“Obviously I am really disappointed. In the in-between conditions, the rain tyre was only lasting one lap for most riders. Unfortunately I made a mistake on the first lap and from that point onwards it was impossible to do a proper lap time, although I tried to push. We have a good set-up for our RR, I am feeling good, so that was just frustrating. Anyway, I think we can win tomorrow, wet or dry. If it is in between, we need to work on making the tyre last, that is the only thing. But I think it is the same for everyone.”

Andrea Dosoli (Head of Race Operations):

“For sure it was a crazy day. We were expecting inconsistent conditions, and we could see that the forecast was right. In none of today’s sessions could we work properly due to the weather. But at least we understood how the RR behaves in these extreme conditions. It is a pity that Leon starts from the fourth row after being so strong in the previous sessions, but we are confident that with a good start he can quickly move up the field. We must congratulate Marco because he kept calm and used a good strategy. He knew that he could only do one lap with the rain tyre and he got the best out of it. Starting from the first row is a big help, especially if it is going to be a wet race. We are a bit concerned about the issues with the rain tyres on a drying track, but we will work on this for tomorrow. We also send our best wishes to Silvano Galbusera, we missed him today and we hope to have him back very soon after his short pit-stop at the hospital.”

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