A 15-minute session full of twists, turns and drama for the Tissot Superpole session in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the TT Circuit Assen for the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round at the TT Circuit Assen as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed his fifth pole in a row since the start of the 2021 season.

THE FRONT ROW

Rea went to the top of the timesheets early on in the session, although did lose his first lap time following Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) bringing out yellow flags with a crash at Turn 16 as he looked to pass teammate Andrea Locatelli. Rea was able to set a 1’33.842s on his second run on the qualifying tyre to claim pole position; his fifth in a row, giving him the fourth-best all-time streak of pole positions.

Razgatlioglu’s crash in the early stages of the 15-minute session meant he was on the back foot heading into the final runs of the Tissot Superpole session, but was able to post a lap time of 1’34.028s, missing out on pole position by two tenths but able to claim second place on the grid for Race 1. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), looking to bounce back from a difficult Donington, will also start from the front row after showing strong pace all weekend.

COMPLETING THE TOP TEN

Redding’s teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, will start from fourth place after a strong showing in Superpole, with the Italian running as high as second throughout the session. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed a second row start ahead of Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action); the German securing his best-ever WorldSBK Superpole result.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) also claimed his best ever Superpole result with seventh place, with the Italian running inside the top three at various points throughout the weekend. Leon Haslam (Team HRC) will start Race 1 from eighth place with Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in ninth after the Dutchman endured a difficult Free Practice 3 earlier in the day. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) will start Race 1 from tenth, with Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) 11^th.

TO NOTE

Despite showing strong pace on Friday and Saturday morning, Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) will start Race 1 from 13^th place just behind Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) did not set a representative lap time after he suffered a technical issue on his BMW M 1000 RR machine in the early stages of the session, while Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) did not set a lap time at all after he crashed at Turn 2 on his first flying lap.

The top six following WorldSBK Tissot Superpole, full results here:

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.186s
3. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.211s
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.225s
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.410s
6. Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) +0.494s

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