Image: Rusty Colvin.

Two-time Australian Superbike Champion Glenn Allerton remains confident he can challenge for top EVO honours in tomorrow’s opening round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship despite a trying Superpole session this afternoon.

A crash in the final free practice session for the 33-year-old caused severe damage to the BMW Motorrad Italia S 1000 RR, in which the team only completed repairs midway through the first 15-minute Superpole session.

Allerton was forced to go straight out onto a Pirelli qualifying tyre late in the session in his first time back aboard the bike since his crash, eventually qualifying 19th with a 1m33.605 – well shy of the 1m31.962 he set in FP3.

That early pace has Allerton in a confident mood ahead of tomorrow’s pair of 22-lap WSBK races, targeting Ducati-mounted Italian Niccolo Canepa who has proven the benchmark in the all-new EVO sub-category so far this weekend. Canepa will start 10th on the grid.

“This morning went really good for me, I managed to get in the 31s and was 13th fastest,” Allerton explained. “In the free practice after that I was in the mid-32s trying to do a race simulation and then we put a new tyre in at the end.

“I was on my out lap and fell off at Turn 12, gave my thumb a bit of a whack, but it really held us up because I damaged the bike pretty badly. The team did the best they could to get it ready for qualifying and they did, but I had to go straight onto a qualifier and I’ve never ridden on one of those proper Q tyres before.

“You pretty much only get one lap on them so I had to ride out and give it everything I had. In looking at the time sheets, our race pace is quite good – if I can get a good start, Canepa’s the one I want to race tomorrow. He’s the top EVO, so if I can get a good start and run with him, 22 laps is a long way.”

This weekend mark’s Allerton’s third WSBK appearance, completing two wildcards in 2013 at Phillip Island and Laguna Seca respectively.

Allerton’s one-off invitation to contest his home round of the championship came via an injury of BMW Motorrad Italia regular Sylvain Barrier, who sustained a fractured pelvis in testing on Monday.