The Donington Superpole

Outstanding Jonathan Rea on pole in front of van der Mark and Sykes

In FP3, Johnny Rea was over a second faster than his Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes. As in the race on Saturday two years ago, the Northern Irishman drove up and away from his competitors on this track. Scott Redding and Jonas Folger fell and missed the top ten and Toprak Razgatlioglu was only eighth. The World Championship leader, on the other hand, took the fourth pole position in a row in Superpole and the eighth of the last twelve editions. Michael van der Mark was only one of two drivers who were within a second of the fastest, the other was his BMW team-mate Tom Sykes. It can be said that row one is a sensationally good result for the blue-whites under these circumstances. While the World Cup third Redding kept the damage with P6 and row 2 within reasonable limits, the current second in the intermediate ranking stumbled violently. For Toprak Razgatzlioglu, rank 13 means only row five. Even Leon Haslam, who fell in Superpole, finished seventh on the best Honda. Below is the ranking of the qualifying.

P, No, Rider, Bike, Time(,Gap), km/h
1, 1, REA Jonathan, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’40.101, , 257
2, 60, VAN DER MARK Michael, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’40.626, 0.525, 255
3, 66, SYKES Tom, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’40.763, 0.662, 257
4, 22, LOWES Alex, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’41.351, 1.250, 259
5, 31, GERLOFF Garrett, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’41.393, 1.292, 256
6, 45, REDDING Scott, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’42.067, 1.966, 252
7, 91, HASLAM Leon, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’42.206, 2.105, 254
8, 21, RINALDI Michael Ruben, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’42.587, 2.486, 259
9, 7, DAVIES Chaz, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’42.630, 2.529, 260
10, 44, MAHIAS Lucas, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’42.658, 2.557, 248
11, 55, LOCATELLI Andrea, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’42.683, 2.582, 255
12, 47, BASSANI Axel, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’42.801, 2.700, 253
13, 54, RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’42.840, 2.739, 254
14, 12, MOSSEY Luke, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’43.212, 3.111, 249
15, 50, LAVERTY Eugene, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’43.345, 3.244, 254
16, 19, BAUTISTA Alvaro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’43.625, 3.524, 244
17, 32, VINALES Isaac, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’44.630, 4.529, 249
18, 53, RABAT Tito, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’44.703, 4.602, 257
19, 23, PONSSON Christophe, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’46.568, 6.467, 251
20, 94, FOLGER Jonas, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’46.660, 6.559, 245
21, 84, CRESSON Loris, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’46.775, 6.674, 247

The first interviews
Michael van der Mark is very relieved that it would have worked so well in the rain and that he is finally in the front row. The Dutchman had a good feeling and a lot of confidence in his bike. The same goes for his BMW team-mate Tom Sykes, who described himself as relatively happy. This time, with the new M-1000RR, they are not in a bad situation to do well, the Huddersfield man added. By far the fastest man was very relaxed, and Jonathan Rea noted that he had heard the raindrops on the roof of his motorhome that morning, but that would not have bothered him. His team would have provided him with an excellent bike on a dry track, and the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR also worked excellently in the wet. The Northern Irishman is looking forward to the first race and stated that he had a lot of fun even in the rain.

The World Championship runner-up is threatened with a disaster

For Toprak Razgatlioglu his bad starting position and the current weather forecast amounts to a catastrophe. After all, there is hope for the Turks that it will stay dry in the afternoon. When it rains, as expected, he hardly has a chance to be among the frontrunners and therefore a disaster threatens him, especially on Sunday. If the Yamaha hope, which signed two days ago for another 2 years in the WorldSBK, falls far behind in the Superpole on Sunday morning, he will not be able to improve his starting position for the last race in the afternoon. He also threatens to lose second position in the World Cup to Scott Redding, who, however, also showed weaknesses in the rain. He still fell in FP3, but with the second row on the grid in Superpole he did not suffer any damage, and he is considered a much better rider in the rain than Toprak.

Stand in the WorldSBK world championships

Donington Park Circuit

WorldSBK Donington Park schedule (WSBK only, no WSSP)

>WSBK Donington Preview see separate report on this page.

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