Superbike: Statements at the end of free practice in Portimao

Having concluded the three free practice sessions of the seventh round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, the riders are preparing to battle to win the Tissot-Superpole and thus start from the first spot on the grid.
The Ninjas of Rea and Sykes are big favourites, with Giugliano ready to act as third wheel.

Excellent test this morning for Jordi Torres who is adapting well to a track that is still new to him, given that this winter's tests, ruined by bad weather, had not allowed him to become familiar with a very beautiful but challenging track.
Behind him we find teammate Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies.

Ayrton Badovini also did well in seventh, directly entering the second Superpole heat together with Matteo Baiocco, eighth, and David Salom, tenth.
Among them, Sylvain Guintoli's Honda CBR hits the mark this time with the SP2, as did not happen to his teammate Michael van der Mark who will have to go through the first round.

David Giugliano: “We worked hard in all sessions to improve the feeling and we succeeded. I'm confident ahead of the Superpole and hopeful that I have the right pace to have two good races on Sunday."

Jonathan Rhea: “Today was another beautiful day. Everyone in the team is working well and we managed to find a good set-up straight away. Although the first four positions were occupied today by Kawasaki and Ducati riders, Leon Haslam cannot be excluded from the fight a priori. It is clear that he is not in the best shape, but he is a fighter and will certainly be among the leaders on Sunday."

Tom Sykes: “I arrived here in Portimao very confident and it would be nice to be able to repeat the Donington Park result here. The circuit this year is bumpier than in 2014 and I think maybe that's why the lap times are slower than we would have expected. We must continue to work to be in the best possible condition to do well in the race."

Sylvain Guintoli: “The weekend so far has been positive. Everyone knows about the difficulties we encountered in the first rounds, but in the last race we found something that seems to help us. Obviously, after the joys of last year, this season has proved to be more than difficult so far, but we don't want to give up and we will continue to give our best. The goal is to bring Honda as close as possible to the top step of the podium by the end of the year."