Toprak Razgatlioglu Five minutes after the start of Superpole on the ground in turn 16 – the World Championship leader was more lucky in his crash than his Yamaha brand colleague Garrett Gerloff, who did not get his bike repaired in time.

Rea, Toprak and Redding in row 1 – Sykes starts at the back

An outstanding Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) set the fastest time early on, and this was followed by a lap in which he finally set a mark at which all of his competitors should fail. Despite his early crash, Toprak made it to P2 in literally the last minute ahead of Scott Redding (Ducati). The first row of the grid for the first race in the afternoon at 2 p.m. and for the Superpole Race on Sunday morning was now fixed. The big unlucky ones this time were Tom Sykes and Garrett Gerloff, who had no working bike after his fall at Turn 2. With the former “Mister Superpole”, however, it looked more like a technical problem, which is why the man from Huddersfield stopped after five minutes and in the end, like the Texan, couldn’t manage a single timed lap. For once, it was Jonas Folger who surprisingly pulled the coals out of the fire for BMW and will start the race from the second row together with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati).

Alvaro Bautista (Honda CBR-1000RR-R SP Fireblade) on Friday – with a clear sign of life, the Assen double winner of the last edition of 2019 (at that time still on Ducati) reported impressively back at the top.

Van der Mark only in row 3 – is BMW facing a setback?

The local hero didn’t make a convincing impression on Friday, which must definitely be his bike. On the Yamaha R1, the man from Gouda landed on the podium after two races two years ago at the last edition of the WSBK-Assen round, once even ahead of world champion Jonathan Rea. This time, however, the Dutchman has to be content with starting position 9 alongside Locatelli (Yamaha) and Haslam on the best Honda. Right behind the Dutchman, Alvaro Bautista made it into the top ten as a double winner in 2019. The little Spaniard will be expected in the race, so you shouldn’t write him off too quickly. After a strong pace on Friday, Chaz Davies disappointed with 13th place and Lucas Mahias in fifteenth, right in front of the returnee Leandro Mercado, who did well and should at least have chances for points. In the following, the result of the Superpole is synonymous with the starting grid.

P, No, Rider, Bike, Time(,Gap), LL, km/h
1, 1, REA Jonathan, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’33.842, , 6, 287
2, 54, RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’34.028, 0.186, 4, 286
3, 45, REDDING Scott, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’34.053, 0.211, 5, 290
4, 21, RINALDI Michael Ruben, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’34.067, 0.225, 8, 292
5, 22, LOWES Alex, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’34.252, 0.410, 6, 288
6, 94, FOLGER Jonas, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’34.336, 0.494, 5, 286
7, 55, LOCATELLI Andrea, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’34.375, 0.533, 5, 286
8, 91, HASLAM Leon, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’34.467, 0.625, 7, 288
9, 60, VAN DER MARK Michael, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’34.786, 0.944, 5, 286
10, 19, BAUTISTA Alvaro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’34.791, 0.949, 6, 291
11, 53, RABAT Tito, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’34.944, 1.102, 7, 290
12, 47, BASSANI Axel, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’34.944, 1.102, 6, 289
13, 7, DAVIES Chaz, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’35.002, 1.160, 5, 288
14, 32, VINALES Isaac, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’35.251, 1.409, 6, 283
15, 44, MAHIAS Lucas, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’35.335, 1.493, 5, 283
16, 36, MERCADO Leandro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’35.558, 1.716, 7, 285
17, 9, MANTOVANI Andrea, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’36.059, 2.217, 6, 283
18, 3, NOZANE Kohta, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’36.076, 2.234, 5, 282
19, 84, CRESSON Loris, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’37.156, 3.314, 5, 277
NQ, 66, SYKES Tom, BMW M 1000 RR, 11’54.377, 10’20.535, 1, 283
NQ, 31, GERLOFF Garrett, Yamaha YZF R1, , , 2, 281

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) is one of the drivers to be expected on Saturday afternoon as well as on the second day, even if the weather forecast comes in and it should rain on Sunday. Toprak, on the other hand, has to seize its chance in the dry and is not considered competitive enough for a podium in the wet.

First interviews after qualifying
Scott Redding had yellow flags on his attempt, just like Rea on the first, because Toprak had fallen before it. He was only able to get 70 to 80 percent out on the second attempt, as he stated on the record. For him, it looks like he has already burned a qualifier in FP3 in the morning, and so he can be more than satisfied with starting position 3 in the end. Toprak said he was more than happy after his crash at the beginning of qualifying. So he was of course happy that his team gave him a working and repaired bike three and a half minutes before the end. The new Mister Superpole, on the other hand, had no problems to report. Jonathan Rea starts from pole position for the fifth time in the fifth race of the season. He was very satisfied and thanked his team for the great bike that they had prepared for him this weekend. Now it is important to keep your head down and show good pace in the races, as he said before his usual “cheers” before saying goodbye to the microphone in preparation for the first run.

TT Circuit of Assen

The subdivision of the four sectors is shown in black. The course has 12 right and 6 left turns and is 4.542 km long, with a start-finish straight that is only 300 m long.

Stand in the WorldSBK world championships after Round 4 in Donington Park

Stand in the WorldSSP 600 world championships after round 3 in Misano

WorldSBK Assen schedule

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).

>WSBK Assen Preview see separate report on this page.