Biaggi convinced of podium potential

Max Biaggi remains adamant that he can fight for podiums and race wins in 2009.

Despite riding the all-new Aprilia RSV4 the Italian showed his and the bikes potential in Australia two weeks ago by qualifying on the front row and running at the front in race two.

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The Italian has so far been plagued by a vibration problem on the V4 Superbike, but believes that there is the potential to for himself and team-mate Shinya Nakano to race up front in the ultra competitive series.

Speaking to MCN, Biaggi said:

“I’m with a team that I really love and I give everything I have even if we know that the result will be hard on race day. I gave everything in qualifying in Phillip Island to take second, it was some performance and I was on the limit everywhere.’

“The race wasn’t easy because this bike needs to be better in some areas. To work with the problem at this moment is hard and it makes it very difficult to be fast for many laps. This is what myself and Nakano found out so now we are investigating how we can improve this area.

“I was really motivated for race two in Australia and I played all the cards I had at every moment. I knew it was going to be difficult from half race distance but I gave it 110% the whole time.

“I saw that Spies and Haga had something in reserve and they were just waiting for the last few laps. For me after ten laps the tyre went down and it was very difficult.”

Despite only finishing 11th and 15th in the opening round, Biaggi showed that he will be capable of much better results in the future. This weekend’s race in Qatar will be difficult given the lack of data, but Biaggi is a past winner at the track and remains a dark horse for the Saturday race.

“After Phillip Island I had some satisfaction because I rode that hard and proved that I was able to be there even if we are not ready. My team mate is also a fast guy. Here he has the same problem but for sure if we are able to cure this both of us can fight for the podium. This must happen this year.”