Baz: We are closing the gap to Sykes...

Loris Baz is taking pride from the continual gains he is making in World Superbikes after coming close to scoring his first pole position at Motorland Aragon.

A circuit he freely admits he has struggled on in the past, Baz's last flyer was enough to briefly put him top of the timesheets, only for Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes to usurp him moments later.

Nonetheless, second position marks Baz's best qualifying performance in WSBK yet and is indicative of the progress he has been working on over the winter.

With this in mind, Baz is pleased to be getting closer to title-winning team-mate Sykes and is aiming high in the races, where he says he is 'usually faster'.

"We have worked a lot on everything on our bike and set-up since last year and our settings are totally different from last season. I feel more confident and I did not crash in all the winter tests, then crashed three times in Phillip Island, but again I am really confident with the bike here.

"I feel very strong in every track now because in the past Aragon was not a really good track for me. Now we are really fast so everything is going better. We keep closing the gap to Tom and that is really good. We have two very different settings on the bike as we have two totally different riding styles.

"I have worked a lot on my style and everything is going well now. I think a podium is possible tomorrow as I am always usually faster in the race than in qualifying, so it will be interesting. We will have to save the tyre and choose the correct one depending on the temperature. A lot of things can affect a race in different ways but we will try our best to be on the podiums."