Leon Haslam has an opportunity to part ways with Stiggy Racing on successful terms after qualifying fifth on the grid for the World Superbike season finale at Portimao.

While his move to the factory Suzuki Alstare team is imminent, Haslam maintained his commitment to the Stiggy team by getting inside the top ten in each of the sessions leading up to Superpole.

Once there, Haslam eased into the shootout before proceeding to out-qualify Max Biaggi with a strong final effort and bag fifth position.

Even so, while the Briton – who is well placed to secure sixth in the overall standings – was happy with his grid slot, he admits the Honda is losing some time on faster parts of the circuit.

“I am pretty happy and we made some good progress through the weekend. We are lacking a little bit in the high RPM, so we are losing 0.1 or 0.2secs per lap, but we have only been 0.1 or 0.2secs off the quickest all weekend.

“In that last Superpole we were frustrated because we ended up going back to the old qualifying tyre. It had dropped off a bit but it was still better than the new one. But I'm still quite happy to be fifth and on the second row.”