Carlos Checa on pole for the World Superbike season opener in Australia
Carlos Checa will start Sunday's World Superbikes opener in Australia from pole position on his all-new Ducati.
Last Updated: 24/02/13 7:46am
Checa flew around Philip Island in a record time of one minute, 31.146 seconds to secure the 10th pole of his career in the series.
The new 1199cc bike looked in fantastic nick throughout qualifying, but Checa's decision to save a Superpole tyre for the final session proved to be vital.
His leading time was just 0.195 seconds quicker than the Aprilia of Ulsterman Eugene Laverty, with the leading rider in qualifying Michel Fabrizio also securing a front-row place for Aprilia.
The second row of the grid will be headed by Tom Sykes, who could not quite match his Superpole successes of 2012, and set exactly the same time as fifth-placed Marco Melandri.
Sylvain Guintoli put his Ducati in sixth on the grid with British riders Leon Camier and Leon Haslam rounding out the top eight.
Leading times:
1 Carlos Checa (Spa) Ducati 1min 30.234secs; 2 Eugene Laverty (Gbr) Aprilia 1:30.429; 3 Michel Fabrizio (Ita), Aprilia 1:30.581; 4 Tom Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 1:30.615; 5 Marco Melandri (Ita) BMW 1:30.615; 6 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra) Ducati 1:30.683; 7 Leon Camier (Gbr) Suzuki 1:30.991; 8 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Honda 1:30.998; 9 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 1:31.742; 10 Davide Giugliano (Ita) Aprilia 1:31.283
