The Tissot Superpole session at Donington Park was held on a wet-but-drying track in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the Prosecco DOC UK Round and it was a historic pole position for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) as he claimed his fourth pole position of 2021, the first time he has claimed the first four poles of a season in his career.

THE FRONT ROW

Rea was strong in the wet Free Practice 3 session as he topped the times by over a second and until the latter stages it looked like Superpole would be a familiar story on Saturday at Donington. Despite late pressure from BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team duo of Michael van der Mark and Tom Sykes in the last few minutes of the 15-minute session, Rea posted a 1’40.101s to claim pole position; ending Sykes’ run of five straight poles at the iconic venue. Van der Mark will line up in second place with Sykes joining them on the front row.

JUST MISSING OUT AT THE FRONT

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was six tenths away from Sykes and a front row start but will line up in fourth place with American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in fifth on his first visit to the British circuit, in difficult conditions. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) put in a storming late lap to claim a second row start with six, 1.966s away from Redding.

COMPLETING THE TOP TEN

Despite strong pace in the early stages of the Tissot Superpole session, Leon Haslam (Team HRC) will start from seventh for Race 1 after the home hero had an off at the right-hander of Coppice, the eighth turn on the circuit, finishing ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing); the French rider using his Superpole tactic of shadowing Rea throughout the 15-minute session.

OTHERS TO NOTE…

The youngest rider on the grid, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), showed strong pace in FP3 and continued that into Superpole with 12th on the grid, just behind fellow Italian rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK); the Turkish star down in 13th place for Race 1. Luke Mossey (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) secured a top 15 start on his return to the Championship with 14th on the grid; beating his previous best WorldSBK Superpole result of 16th by two places.

The top six following Tissot Superpole, full results here:

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’40.101s
2. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.525s
3. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.662s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.250s
5. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +1.292s
6. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.966s