Laverty takes the top slot as Aprilias come out stronger

Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) took the top slot on the third and final day of Superbike testing at Portimao, which saw the presence of Aprilia, BMW and the new-for-2012 Crescent Suzuki.

The former Yamaha man was on terrific form, powering his RSV4 to the new unofficial lap record of the Portuguese track in 1 minute 42.7 seconds, a fraction quicker than Max Biaggi's mark of 1'42.774 set in 2010. But his Italian team leader was himself just a whisker behind, lapping in 1'42.8 by the end of the day. The third Aprilia rider present, Chaz Davies from the ParkinGO team, also went well, notching up a time of 1'43.2. All the Aprilia riders lapped exclusively on race tyres.

The BMW riders set an even quicker pace on qualifying tyres, Leon Haslam going half-a-second faster to end up with a time of 1'42.2. Marco Melandri looked good on his new BMW mount, setting a Q-time of 1'42.4, and so did Ayrton Badovini. In race set-up however the German bike is not yet at the level of the Aprilia, even though Haslam, who was quickest over the first two days, finished with a positive 1'43.1, a time that Melandri equaled towards the end.

Leon Camier made a promising start to his Crescent Suzuki campaign, the former Aprilia man clocking a time of 1'43.8. Alastair Seeley was standing in for the still recovering John Hopkins on the team's second GSX-R machine.

Tomorrow will see the start of the new winter testing ban imposed by the new regulations, which will last until January 15th. The opening round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship is at Phillip Island in Australia on February 26th.

Overall unofficial times (with qualifying tyre times in brackets): 1. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'42.7; 2. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'42.8; 3. Badovini (BMW) 1'43.1 (1'42.5); 4. Haslam (BMW) 1'43.1 (1'42.2); 5. Melandri (BMW) 1'43.1 (1'42.4); 6. Davies (Aprilia) 1'43.2; 7. Camier (Suzuki) 1'43.8; 8. Fabrizio (BMW) 1'43.9 (1'43.3); 9. Seeley (Suzuki) 1'44.1 (1'43.5).