Leon Camier is refusing to rule out a good result on his World Superbike Championship debut at Donington Park, despite qualifying a lowly 17th when an earlier crash forced him onto his spare bike.
Having qualified a provisional seventh on the grid, Camier was confident of further progression as the day went on but was left on the sidelines during Q2 when he crashed heavily at the Craner Curves.
Destroying his number one bike, Camier reverted to his spare Airwaves Yamaha for Superpole, but struggled to make the machine work for him.
Being bumped down to 17th position in the dying moments of the opening knockout phase, Camier was frustrated with the final result but was looking forward to potentially making an impression by scything his way through the field instead.
"Going into this weekend we hoped to qualify higher than 17th. Our times had been looking really promising so I am disappointed. My race bike was destroyed in the crash this morning and I put myself at a disadvantage having to use the spare bike. The times across the whole field were really close. In Superpole 1, the top 20 were separated by less than a second and considering I was on the spare bike, I was happy with the times we produced.
“All is definitely not lost. The plan for the races will be to try and buck my trend of appalling starts and then push until the chequered flag. I've had a few races in the British Superbike Championship recently where I've had to fight my way through the field. I'll be doing all I can to put on a similar show for the British fans tomorrow."
Team-mate James Ellison starts on the row ahead in 15th position, the Briton lamenting the unfamiliar use of qualifying tyres during Superpole.
"I'm really frustrated to be honest. The Airwaves Yamaha felt good. It was going exactly where I wanted it. The package was absolutely right. The Pirelli qualifying tyres helped to settle the bike but I needed more time on them. I needed to build up to speed and get a better feel for them. But the times are really close so we have to be pleased and feel confident of some good results tomorrow."
