Series leader Sofuoglu takes important WSS pole position.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has claimed the Pirelli Spanish Round pole position, his 29th career WorldSBK pole after a nail biting Tissot-Superpole at the Jerez Circuit.
The Briton lapped in a circuit best of 1m40.292s, six thousandths of a second better than former teammate Loris Baz’s time of 12 months ago.
The final minutes of the second session were simply hectic, with many position changes until to the chequered flag as the top seven were separated by less than nine tenths of a second.
Joining Sykes on the front row tomorrow are series leader and team mate Jonathan Rea and Althea Racing’s Niccolò Canepa, the trio split by 0.216s.
Row two will be headed by Michael van der Mark, who posted a series of impressive laps to grab fourth after making his way through Superpole 1 and narrowly missing out on his first-ever front row start.
Van der Mark will be joined by Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team).
Replacement rider at the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team Michele Pirro qualified seventh ahead of Althea Racing rider Matteo Baiocco and Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes who completes row three.
Row four will see Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) ahead of Team Pedercini’s David Salom, who after falling in SP1 was unable to take to the track for the final 15 minutes.
Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing) and Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) will line up tomorrow on the fifth row on the grid. Australian Alex Phillis (Grillini Kawasaki) starts out of 22nd.
Pole position for the Spanish round of the World Supersport championship has been taken in style by current championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing).
The Turkish rider edged second placed Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) by almost half a second, courtesy of a 1m43.528s laptime. Completing the front row will be the winner from Sepang, PJ Jacobsen (CORE” Motorsport Thailand).
Title contender Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will take no further part this weekend and was not on track in qualifying after breaking his leg in FP3 yesterday afternoon.
The Frenchman has been replaced by former WorldSBK rider Nico Terol who returned to the paddock at short notice claiming 11th on the grid in his first WSS qualifying session after only 90 minutes of track time.
Leading Australian was Aiden Wagner (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) in 17th, 2.4s off the pace of Sofuoglu, while Glenn Scott (AARK Racing Honda) was 23rd on the timesheets.
Roberto Tamburini (Team MotoxRacing) has taken pole position ahead of the penultimate FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race at Jerez, heading Riccardo Russo (GM Racing) and Raffaele de Rosa (Althea Racing). Bryan Staring (Pedercini Kawasaki) was 11th.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (San Carlo Team Italia) won the Superstock 600 race, leading every lap, and eventually converting his number one spot in qualifying to a maiden victory by 1.571s after 13 intense laps.
Second went to Augusto Fernandez (Pata Honda Junior Team), who notched up his first podium finish, and third Davide Stirpe (Scuderia Maranga Racing). Lachlan Epis (Response RE Racing Kawasaki) crossed the line 23rd.