Rea claims Superbike pole in Portugal

Jonathan Rea claimed pole position for the final two races of the 2011 World Superbike Championship after he broke the lap record at Portimao in Portugal.

The Castrol Honda rider set a lap time of one minute 41.712 seconds to break Cal Crutchlow's record from last season by three tenths of a second.

The 24-year-old rider from Northern Ireland will be joined on the front row by newly crowned World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa who was second fastest, just ahead of Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri.

France's Sylvain Guintoli qualified fifth fasted on his Ducati with team-mate Jakub Smrz in sixth to start on the second row.

Rea was satisfied with his qualification but expects a tough day in the testing conditions in Portugal.

He said: "To be honest, I'd much rather swap this pole position and the one at Magny-Cours for two good results tomorrow, but I'm still very happy with today.

"I'm enjoying riding the bike so much right now and go out with a smile on my face in every session.

"We had quite a different strategy with tyres today but it looks like being quite a difficult race with the temperatures here and we think the race will probably start around lap 10.

"For now though, we'll just savour the moment and I'll try my best tomorrow, which is another day after all."