Source: World Superbike Championship.

Cold and wet conditions played to the setup strengths of Ducati’s Davide Giugliano who scored pole position for round five of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park.

Consistent rain and low track temperatures affected the majority of the sessions, with the morning’s final free practice allowing riders an opportunity to setup their machines ahead of Superpole.

Italian Giugliano was comfortable in the conditions and stayed on track for the entire session, cycling up to speed to eventually set the class benchmark, a 1m44.903, and his second career premier class pole.

Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam was another who revelled in the wet, climbing over his rivals for second place, 0.106s shy of the lead Ducati.

Marco Melandri completes the front row for the factory Aprilia effort, also making ground on his Friday placing.

Alex Lowes proved the fastest of the home favourites, running out of time to defend the provisional pole position he took in the dying stages.

The Voltcom Crescent Suzuki set a string of consistent fastest laps but would eventually be bundled back to fourth.

Lowes is joined on the second row by French riders Sylvain Guintoli and Loris Baz aboard factory Aprilia and Kawasaki machinery respectively.

Defending champion Tom Sykes couldn’t match his rivals in the changing conditions, finishing 1.338 seconds off the pace for seventh.

Honda’s Jonathan Rea, the previous round winner, will start from ninth, with Aprilia’s Toni Elias alongside.

Eugene Laverty completed the top 10, the Suzuki rider struggling for any feeling and finishing over three seconds off Giugliano’s pole effort.

Australia’s Bryan Staring was unable to continue in the Donington Park weekend, with a recently-sustained broken arm plaguing his progress in free practice. The Team Grillini Kawasaki rider will aim for a return in Malaysia.

Pata Honda’s Michael van der Mark claimed pole position in the World Supersport class, with the weather-affected session marred by numerous crashes.

Steady rain saw riders push and overstep limits, with at least 10 individual incidents interrupting progress for various riders.

MAHI Racing Team India’s Kenan Sofuoglu was second, 0.763 seconds off van der Mark’s best, with Kev Coghlan third on the DMC Panavto Yamaha, 1.712 seconds behind.

US rider PJ Jacobsen was fourth from a string of Italians, with Marco Bussolotti, Alessandro Nocco and Lorenzo Zanetti qualifying fifth through seventh.

Jules Cluzel was eighth-fastest, with Ricard Russo ninth and local wildcard Sam Hornsey 10th.

Times from Friday’s Honda European Junior Cup qualifying session stood for Saturday, with Brit Josh Harland taking pole.

2014 World Superbike Championship
Round five – Donington Park, England

Superbike qualifying results:
1. Davide GIUGLIANO 1m44.903
2. Leon HASLAM 1m45.009
3. Marco MELANDRI 1m45.111
4. Alex LOWES 1m45.258
5. Sylvain GUINTOLI 1m45.839
6. Loris BAZ 1m46.058
7. Tom SYKES 1m46.241
8. Jonathan REA 1m46.306
9. Toni ELIAS 1m46.326
10. Eugene LAVERTY 1m47.963

Supersport qualifying results:
1. Michaek van der MARK 1m46.220
2. Kenan SOFUOGLU 1m46.983
3. Kevin COGHLAN 1m47.932
4. PJ JACOBSEN 1m48.158
5. Marco BUSSOLOTTI 1m48.515
6. Alessandro NOCCO 1m48.635
7. Lorenzo ZANETTI 1m49.102
8. Jules CLUZEL 1m49.579
9. Ricardo RUSSO 1m49.702
10. Sam HORNSEY 1m49.909

Click here for detailed results