Carlos Checa was fastest on Friday in Germany.

Althea Racing Ducati privateer Carlos Checa posted a brilliant new track best lap of 1:55.232 during the opening qualifying session of the German round of the Superbike World Championship at the Nürburgring on Friday.

Checa was a podium finisher at Nürburgring in 2009 and is looking forward to another chance to improve tomorrow, before facing Superpole on Saturday afternoon. The Spanish rider made several laps in under 1:56, demonstrating strong pace ahead of Sunday’s races.

“We’ve done some good work”, said Carlos. “I like the track a lot and last year I was able to make two great races. The Ducati performs very well here, a track where the engine power counts. We are particularly strong in the first section of the track but we cannot relax tomorrow because the competition is tough.

“We’ll concentrate on the little details and will work without too much stress as, being up ahead, we won’t have to make major changes to a set-up that’s already giving good results.”

On his German-built BMW machine, Australia’s Troy Corser headed a trio of Ducati riders made up of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox Team), Shane Byrne (Althea Racing Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox Team).

“We started this morning with the bike the way it was when we finished in Silverstone, because I had liked the settings we used there in the second race,” Corser said. “I like this track and, so far, things have been going pretty well.

“This is the team’s home race, so I would like to get a couple of podiums for them and all our fans here. It’s not going to easy on Sunday, but if things work out well in qualifying and Superpole tomorrow, there’s no reason why we can’t be celebrating at the end.”

Championship leader Max Biaggi was sixth for Aprilia Alitalia Racing, keeping up the pressure on challenger Leon Haslam, who was only 11th for Suzuki Alstare.

“We’re having a bit of difficulty transferring power to the ground,” Biaggi admitted. “We’re suffering particularly from vibrations. I’d say it’s nothing very surprising, but tomorrow we need to improve. We need to find the best possible setup.

“In short, this was a busy Friday. Now we need to put all of this information together and make the choices which will let us close in on the leaders.”

The day marked a difficult start to the weekend for Haslam, however he’s determined to improve come Sunday.

“It’s been a bit frustrating today because we’ve had to do a lot of work trying to get the tyres to work with our bike,” the British rider said. “I like this track a lot and I’m looking forward to tomorrow, getting somewhere with the tyres and moving up the grid. I’m sure the races will be tough on Sunday, but that is exactly the kind of challenge I like and I am definitely up for it.”

Double Silverstone race winner Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda Team) was top Yamaha rider, Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) the fastest Honda man in eighth place.

Privateer Jakub Smrz (Team PATA B&G Racing) slipped into the top 10, as did Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on the same weekend his team launched their new 2011 season challenger in the WSBK paddock.

Local hero Max Neukirchner (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) posted a top 12 time, but it was an unhappy and painful session for Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing) who broke his right wrist in a heavy fall, and has been declared unfit to race on Sunday. He also hurt his knee, but without serious injury.

Stand-in rider Ian Lowry (Kawasaki Racing Team) was 19th as he fills in for Queenslander Chris Vermeulen.

World Supersport Championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) set a 1:59.276 lap on the first day of competitive action in Germany, but Spanish rider David Salom (ParkinGO BE1 Triumph) was only 1/1000th of a second behind.

Silverstone podium finisher Gino Rea (Intermoto Czech) went third on his Honda, despite a late fall without injury. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki Motocard.com) was fourth on the official Ninja ZX-6R, his new teammate Broc Parkes seventh. Championship challenger Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) was fifth.

One more qualifying session remains to determine the final grid positions tomorrow.

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