Michel Fabrizio the best in the Superbikes QP1 at Phillip Island

Rider Michel Fabrizio remains unstoppable in the Superbikes World Championship. The Italian on his Aprilia is showing great strength and, after dominating free practice, he was also the fastest in the first qualifying practice session, setting a lap time of 1:31.317.

So the Italian was the fastest in QP1, although this time there wasn’t much of a gap. Second-placed Eugene Laverty finished just 0.075s behind, so the top two were very close on lap times. Third place was more than two tenths behind the leader, Marco Melandri.

Melandri dominated much of the session with his BMW, but in the final part the riders began pushing hard, with Laverty briefly taking first position, until Fabrizio snatched that spot back with a good lap, leaving him 0.291s ahead. The top 10 was completed by Leon Camier in 4th, Chaz Davies 5th, Leon Haslam 6th, Tom Sykes 7th, Davide Giugliano 8th, Sylvain Guintoli 9th and Jonathan Rea 10th.

Our only representative, and 2011 Champion, Carlos Checa got off to a good start in the session but then lost pace, and in the end he finished in 12th position. It’s nothing to worry about, though: remember there is still the second qualifying practice session before we see how the Superpole battle unfolds. Besides, the times are all very close, with 13 riders on the grid within a second of each other, so there is great parity and maximum interest.

Now we’ll have to wait for QP2, and the participants in the Superpole will be decided from that session.

Photo | WorldSBK and teams.