The Turkish champion scores the first qualifying goal with BMW in Superbike, destroying Montmelò's record. Bulega and Iannone in the front row.
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Toprak Razgatlioglu scores his first qualifying victory with BMW, destroying the Montmelò Superbike record. The Turkish champion achieved an exceptional time, 1'39″489, eight tenths less than the old record established by Alvaro Bautista.
Times are changing: this time the Spaniard, reigning world champion, finds himself stuck in eleventh position. The No. 1 Ducati will therefore have to start from the fourth row both during race 1 (14 p.m.) and during the Superpole Race on Sunday morning. Overtaking is easy at Montmelò, but going so far away will be a very significant handicap for the driver who, over the last two seasons, had always won here by gap.
At this point, the Italian brand will have to focus on Nicholas Bulega which begins alongside Soil. Also pay attention to Andrea Iannone, third fastest: the native of Abruzzo worked hard to preserve his tires as much as possible. If he has squared the circle, it will be painful for everyone.
Razgatlioglu is the first to know that a single lap is different from doing 20 laps faster than the Ducatis. “The goal is the podium, there are Panigales to beat” the Turk has no illusions. “II'm going to try to do my best, which is to win." On this track, Soil never excelled, even in the Yamaha era. Furthermore, on a track that torments the tires like few others, BMW has never done anything good. But in the meantime, the Superpole is safe: for Razgatlioglu, this is the 13th time in his career.
Bulega, the great opportunity
The Romagna rider, for his second qualification in Superbike, arrived just 102 thousandths of a second from the goal. In terms of race pace, Open up is in better shape than all the others and with Alvaro Bautista so far behind, he has the great opportunity to repeat the hump he already achieved at Phillip Island, during his first performance in the premier category.
The second row of the grid is completed by the other BMW of Michael van der Mark. At his side is a surprising Sam Lowes, now perfectly integrated into the Superpole mechanisms and helped by the excellent organization of the Marc VDS team. The rider and team are new to the series, but the results in Moto2 were a guarantee that they would not fall behind. Dominique Aegerter also performed well, sixth and best Yamaha.
Jonathan Rea in great difficulty
Not only BaptistMore Jonathan Rhea also fell, stuck in 13th place. The six-time world champion is not progressing, so much so that he also has the other three official drivers ahead of him. Phillip Island could have been an accident along the way, but this watch suggests that the harmony between rider, bike and team is rather tenuous. The Superbike 24 has just started but for Alvaro et Jonathan, a race 1 back to the wall promises to be the case.
Ranking of the WSBK Superbike Superpole in Catalonia:
Ranking credit: WSBK
