But once he put on the qualifying tyres on the his bike, he began experiencing front and rear end chattering and was unable to push hard enough to secure what would’ve been his first front row grid position of the year. Instead, he will start tomorrow’s two 21-lap races from the third row of the grid and will once again will have to try and made good starts if he is to have any chance of chasing podium places.

Carlos Checa (Ducati) once again took pole position - his sixth of the season - though this time it was by the narrowest of margins. Less than seven hundredths of a second separated him and Jonathan Rea (Honda) in second place. Third is Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia), with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) completing the front row line-up. Once again the top six bikes in Superpole are from six different manufacturers.

Michel - 11th, 1:48.126

Well, I am frustrated with my Superpole. All weekend, I have been in the top five in the standings and I was feeling very positive about Superpole. My pace on race rubber has been consistently fast and I was happy because my bike set-up was good. But, as soon as we put qualifying tyres on the bike, it behaved differently. I got bad chattering - so bad that I couldn’t work out if it was from the front or the rear - or maybe both! Because of this, I couldn’t push the bike harder and so couldn’t go fast enough to get into final Superpole and a chance of a front row grid place. It’s been a disappointing end to the day and now I am once again facing the prospect of having to make two great starts if I am to have any chance of good results. Although the first turn seems a long way away, I still have to make super starts and try and be in the top four going into the first chicane or otherwise I will get held up and it will be even more difficult. Hopefully, nobody will make a big break at the start and I can be with the leaders. It’s not just because this race is taking place in my home country, I want to do well in all races. Of course, there are lot of my fans here, so I would love to get on the podium tomorrow.

Final qualifying & Superpole

1 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:47.196, 2 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:47.274, 3 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Aprilia) 1:47.442, 4 Tom Sykes (GBR-Kawasaki) 1:47.468, 5 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:47.929, 6 Leon Haslam (GBR-BMW) 1:48.081, 11 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki) 1:48.126,