World Superbike Championship leader
Max Biaggi expects to move up the leaderboard during final qualifying at Portimao in Portugal after ending today in seventh position.
The factory Aprilia rider currently heads BMW's Marco Melandri by 9.5 points and the veteran Italian hopes to strengthen his grip on the title with two solid results on Sunday.
Melandri made a flying start as he took provisional pole today, but Biaggi isn't panicking just yet as he analyses his tactics for tomorrow's final qualifying and Superpole.
“A day of intense work,” said Biaggi.
“The track was dirty this morning, but it improved in the afternoon. We tried a lot of things, both on a set-up level and with the tyres.
“This evening it will be important to carefully analyse the data and choose which path to take tomorrow,” he added.
“We have a few ideas which I hope will allow us to take another step toward finding a fast pace, but above all consistency.”
Biaggi re-took the lead of the championship at the Nurburgring last time out, taking advantage of Melandri's double DNF to return to the top of the standings with two rounds and four races remaining.