Sykes and Rea complete the front row ahead of Davies and Haslam
Today’s Tissot-Superpole qualifying sessions at the 4.9km Imola circuit was scintillating, with Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) securing the 4th Pole Position of his WorldSBK career, the 166th for Ducati in the series, thanks to a 1.46.382s lap time and despite a near crash at “Variante Bassa” while changing direction. For Giugliano today’s result marked an emotional return to the series following his injury at the official pre-season test in Australia last February.
The Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea will join the Italian rider on the front row of the grid tomorrow in what are shaping up to be two very unpredictable races as the top-5 on the grid are separated by a mere 0.472s.
Row two will comprise Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils), despite a small crash in the session and the second Aprilia RSV4 RF machine of Jordi Torres.
Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Ducati) heads the third row with his so far best ever qualifying performance in the series, he will be joined by Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), while David Salom (Team Pedercini), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will start from row 4.
Camier was unable to take part in the final Pole Position shootout after suffering a technical problem in the closing minutes of the opening Superpole session.
Michel Fabrizio, his Althea Racing team mate Matteo Baiocco, reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) complete the top 15 riders on the grid ahead of tomorrow’s two 19-lap races.
WorldSBK Imola – Tissot-Superpole
1 – Davide Giugliano Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team 1’46.382
2 – Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team +0.084
3 – Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team +0.121
