The 2012 World Superbike Championship may be officially going down to the wire at Magny-Cours, but you would have to be a brave man to put your money on anyone else other than Max Biaggi following yet another dramatic race day at Portimao.

In a season that has now seen nine different race winners, Biaggi may well go on to secure the title this year simply because he has out-lasted his nearest rivals and endured fewer issues.

Indeed, Biaggi carries a 30.5 point advantage into the final round of the season, his biggest advantage since Aragon five events ago. When you consider Biaggi has only managed one win and three podiums in those last ten races, it is testament to that overall greater consistency.

Of course, Marco Melandri has certainly helped Biaggi's cause of late, his double DNF at Nurburgring being followed up by an altogether more painful double DNS at Portimao, the Italian injuring himself in a messy lap one accident.

As such, Tom Sykes is now Biaggi's closest title contender with two races and 50 points remaining, but his ill-timed technical woes in the second race (just hours after he was given a sniff at the title by his race one win), leave him with plenty of work to do.

Furthermore, with BMW failing to score big points for the second round in succession, Aprilia have moved into a good position to seal the manufacturers' title, the Italian marque now 28.5 points ahead of its main rival.

Part of that margin can be attributed to the maximum haul of points achieved by Eugene Laverty in the second race, the Irishman's long-awaited first Aprilia win also putting him within striking distance of the top five in the overall standings.

Further back, Sylvain Guintoli's third and fourth place results lift him back up to eighth in the standings ahead of Chaz Davies and just behind Leon Haslam - both non-scorers at Portimao -, while Michel Fabrizio has squeezed into the top ten again.

2012 eni World Superbike Championship rider standings (After round 13 of 14, previous championship standing in brackets)

1. (1) Max Biaggi Aprilia Racing 347 points
2. (3) Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing 316.5
3. (2) Marco Melandri BMW Motorrad 308.5
4. (4) Carlos Checa Althea Ducati 278.5
5. (5) Jonathan Rea Honda WSBK 255.5
6. (6) Eugene Laverty Aprilia Racing 241.5
7. (7) Leon Haslam BMW Motorrad 189
8. (9) Sylvain Guintoli Effenbert Liberty Ducati/PATA Ducati 172.5
9. (8) Chaz Davies ParkinGO MTC Aprilia 156.5
10. (11) Michel Fabrizio BMW Italia GoldBet 133.5
11. (10) Davide Giugliano Althea Ducati 125
12. (14) Loris Baz Kawasaki Racing 116
13. (13) Ayrton Badovini BMW Italia GoldBet 116
14. (12) Leon Camier FIXI Crescent Suzuki 109.5
15. (15) Jakub Smrz Liberty Effenbert Ducati 92.5
16. (16) Maxime Berger Effenbert Liberty Ducati 74
17. (17) Lorenzo Zanetti PATA Ducati 65
18. (18) Hiroshi Aoyama Honda WSBK 59.5
19. (20) John Hopkins Crescent Fixi Suzuki 44
20. (19) Niccolo Canepa Red Devils Roma Ducati 42.5
21. (21) David Salom Pedercini Kawasaki 22
22. (32) Brett McCormick Effenbert Liberty Ducati 19
23. (22) Joan Lascorz Kawasaki Racing 17
24. (23) Leandro Mercado Pedercini Kawasaki 9
25. (25) Matteo Baiocco Barni Ducati/Red Devils Ducati 8
26. (31) Lorenzo Lanzi Effenbert Liberty Ducati 8
27. (28) Alexander Lundh Pedercini Kawasaki 8
28. (24) Peter Hickman FIXI Crescent Suzuki 7
29. (26) Bryan Staring Pedercini Kawasaki 6
31. (27) Alex Polita Red Devils Roma Ducati 4
32. (29) Norino Brignola Grillini Progea BMW 4
33. (30) Mark Aitchison Grillini Progea BMW 3
34. (32) Josh Brookes FIXI Crescent Suzuki 1

2012 World Superbike Championship manufacturer standings

1. (1) Aprilia 422.5 points
2. (2) BMW 394
3. (3) Ducati 375
4. (4) Kawasaki 356.5
5. (5) Honda 270
6. (6) Suzuki 130.5

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