Starting on pole for the sixth weekend of the 2011 World Superbike season, Carlos Checa sat the front row for the second race at Imola alongside Jonathan Rea, Noriyuki Haga, and Tom Sykes. Checa set a new lap record (1:47.196) during the Superpole sessions on Saturday to take that pole, despite leading only S3 and the two free practices all weekend. Rea was the first to take provisional pole on Friday, with Sykes having the honor Saturday morning. Meanwhile, Eugene Laverty and Noriyuki Haga were fastest in each of the first two Superpole sessions, though it was Checa’s final time that counted to win pole.
Though Ruben Xaus has returned to the track, missing this weekend are Chris Vermeulen and the freshly-retired James Toseland. Paul Bird Motorsports did not replace the Australian, but Javier Flores is the new rider at BMW Motorrad Italia alongside Ayrton Badovini. Most importantly for the championship, Max Biaggi is still unable to ride due to his Nurburgring practice injury and has missed the second race weekend in a row. Haga was again quickest in the morning warm-up, Sunday before the race. He led Sykes, Rea, Haslam, and Checa as the fastest five. Race 1 at Imola was just as dicey as the rest of the leaderboard throughout the weekend.