Checa hopes for positive penultimate round at Portimao
This weekend sees the eni FIM Superbike World Championship move on to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal for the penultimate round of the 2012 season. Althea Racing, participating with riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano, will be doing its best to round off the year with the best possible results.
Two weeks ago it was the Nurburgring's turn to host the World Superbikes but despite its high hopes, Althea Racing had another difficult race day against their four cylinder rivals. Race one came to a premature end for Giugliano while Checa crashed, rejoined and finished in eventual twelfth position. Race 2 saw the Althea pair cross the line in sixth and seventh place respectively. As the Althea team arrives at Portimao, Carlos is in fourth place (247.5 points) in the standings while Davide is tenth (125). Ducati lies third in the manufacturers' championship with 342 points.
Carlos Checa: "It's difficult because we usually use the data from the previous year's race but, as we saw in Germany, last year we were going a lot better while this year we're struggling and so those references are not so useful. Nevertheless, Portimao is a fun track with undulations that really make the rider work hard. I'll face this weekend with the usual philosophy, I'll do my best to adapt to the conditions and make the most of both the bike and my ability. We'll see what we are able to do."
