In the Superpole it is the BMW Turk who stands out in SBK. Second time for Bulega, whose best time of the session was cancelled, while Gardner’s third time is not too surprising. Bautista fifth, Bassani eleventh. Male Rea, only 15th.
Immediately emotions in Misano, where I am Qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Round of World SBK has ended. Toprak Razgatlioglu wins the Superpole, confirming the great speed on the flying lap shown yesterday also on his BMW. The Turk printed a great 1’32”320, new absolute track record for series derivatives shading seven tenths off the previous record that belonged to Bautista. But he had done even better Nicolò Bulega, printing an even better 1’32”221 which was then canceled due to the yellow flag. The #11 of the Aruba Ducati team he had to settle, so to speak, with his second best time, which still guaranteed him second place less than two and a half tenths from Razgatlioglu. Numerous times were canceled in these qualifying sessions, affected by track limits and in the final minutes by two yellow flags due to the crashes of Iannone and Van der Mark.
Completing the front row in Race-1 and the Superpole Race will be Remy Gardner, author of the third period in qualifying just under six tenths aboard the Yamaha R1 of the GRT team. The result of the Australian is not surprising, as he was in very good shape on this track yesterday as in the tests a few weeks ago. Jonathan Rea, on the other hand, did badly. Mister Superpole, and 6 times SBK world champion, does not go beyond the 15th time 1.3 seconds behind Toprak but above all almost eight tenths behind Gardner with whom he shares the bike. Locatelli, his teammate, also did better than Rea: sixth fastest for the man from Bergamoeight tenths from the top.
Fourth half for Alex Lowes riding the KRT team’s Ninja, which finishes ahead of Alvaro Bautista. The reigning SBK Champion closed the Superpole almost eight tenths behind the first position but it was still an excellent second row placement for him, who especially this year is more effective in the race than on the flying lap. The maximum speed reached by Bautista at the Speed Trap is impressive, 282 km/h which places him ahead of everyone in this special ranking, 4.4 km/h better than Razgatlioglu who occupies second position.
Third row for Andrea Iannone which will start from the seventh square. The Superpole of the Abruzzo rider for the Go Eleven team was affected by a crash three minutes from the end, which prevented him from improving further. They will be there in the company of the pilot from Vasto Sam Lowes, eighth, and Aegerter, ninth. Excellent qualification for Tito Rabat, who closed the SBK qualification in tenth position aboard the official Ninja entrusted to the Puccetti team. The Spaniard did just better than Bassani, eleventh riding the second Ninja of the KRT team. Alone 18th Rinaldi, who can complain about a yellow flag which led to the cancellation of his best time: he would have been tenth without this setback.
