Ben Spies continued to set the pace ahead of today's pivotal World Superbike Championship races at Portimao by topping morning warm-up.

Edging out the three riders that will start alongside him on the front row of the grid, Spies was less than a tenth faster than Jonathan Rea, while Michel Fabrizio and Shane Byrne followed close behind in third and fourth.

Vitally, Noriyuki Haga appears to have recovered some of the pace he needs if he is to challenge Spies from tenth on the grid, the Japanese rider being forced to use the short 15 minutes session to improve his Ducati Xerox's set-up. Ending up fifth fastest, Haga was still four tenths short of Spies in lap times.

Leon Haslam recovered from a fall to set the sixth fastest time, ahead of Jakub Smrz and Aprilia duo Max Biaggi and Leon Camier. Troy Corser completed the top ten for BMW.