Jonathan Rea put the problems of the last two rounds behind him today by taking third place on the grid for tomorrow’s two ninth round World Superbike championship races at Brno in the Czech Republic.

The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland lapped the 5.403km circuit in a time of 1’59.094s to secure his first front row start since the Italian WSBK round at Monza in May. Pole position was taken by Britain’s Cal Crutchlow as Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Max Neukirchner, set the 11th fastest time.

“I can’t fault the efforts of the guys in my team this weekend – they’ve all worked really hard to give me a bike that I can fight at the front with. And we have had to fight to get it up there. It’s still tough and we know that the package isn’t the easiest to take from race to race,” said Rea.

After a steady start in yesterday’s free practice, Rea and his crew have spend the last two days methodically working through chassis and electronics issues with the team’s Honda CBR1000RR, giving Rea the confidence to push hard at the fast and flowing Brno circuit.

“However, we’ve made good progress with the chassis and the electronics since the first outing yesterday and the front row is a good reward for that. We’re using slightly different electronics this weekend and it’s easy to forget that it takes some time to get it working on the sweet spot. The chatter has not really been an issue here, which is great, and we know that we can still achieve a pretty good pace when the tyre performance drops off,” said Rea.

Neukirchner is also happy with the way his own pit crew has worked through problems, resulting in the German rider’s best qualifying performance since Monza. “Someone was right on my line in Superpole 2 and I think it cost me maybe three tenths. That might have put me in the final Superpole for the front two rows but it wasn’t to be. I’m happy that today we made the bike more stable at the front when it’s in the corner and I did quite a few consecutive laps today in the low 2m01s range so I think the pace can be OK,” said Neukirchner.

Neukirchner has the added support of his fan club, which has made the trip from his home town of Chemnitz in Germany. He believes that he has a race pace that will allow him to compete nearer the front of the field than he has been accustomed to this season.

“We tested the new front tyre today, as well, and it gives a better feeling which should be good for the race. I don’t have the 100% feeling that I’d like, but I’m happy enough and the circuit characteristics are helping, too. The races will be tough, but they are the same for everyone, so I will try to get two good starts and see what happens,” said Neukirchner