Fabrizio moves in front after Q2

Michel Fabrizio came out on top of a frantic World Superbike Q2 session at Monza as damp-to-dry conditions prompted a flurry of late activity.

A morning shower had already made things difficult for the World Supersport runners who were on track prior to the Superbike riders, but while a drier line was forming at the start of the session, lap times remained around three seconds shy of their Q1 efforts initially.

It wouldn't be until half-way through the session that a rider would improve their time, with Troy Corser and Shane Byrne showing the circuit was now in an operational condition.

Steadily the lap times would decrease before the final five minutes would see a number of riders take turns towards the top of the timesheets.

Eventually it was Fabrizio who would come out on top, his effort of 1min 43.737secs proving marginally faster than the fastest lap of the weekend thus far, achieved by Cal Crutchlow during FP1.

Jonathan Rea continued to look threatening in second position, while Aprilia got themselves into the mix with a run to third and fourth in the order of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier.

Jakub Smrz lifted himself further into the top ten for the PATA B&G Ducati team in fifth, ahead of Leon Haslam, Q1 pace setter Cal Crutchlow, Luca Scassa, Troy Corser and Max Neukirchner.

Despite the tricky conditions, there were few surprises further down the field, although Carlos Checa would only just scrape into Superpole after posting the 19th fastest time.

Meanwhile, Chris Vermeulen hauled himself out of the drop zone to make it into Superpole, as did Matteo Baiocco, the first time a Pedercini Kawasaki rider has qualified for the afternoon session this year.

Losing out, however, would be Yoshimura Suzuki debutant Daisaku Sakai, Roger Lee Hayden, Vittorio Iannuzzo and Broc Parkes.