A trip through the gravel at Turn 5 was not enough to stop Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) claiming his sixth consecutive FIM Supersport World Championship pole position, equalling a record set by Karl Muggeridge in 2004. Locatelli had an incident where he ran off the track at Turn 5 but was able to return to the pit lane and improve his time in the closing stages of the Tissot Superpole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the inaugural Acerbis Catalunya Round.

The Italian had been off the top of the timesheets for the first half of the 25-minute session but he put in a lap good enough to move to the top before the incident at Turn 5; before improving his time at the end of the session to take pole by just 0.031s. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) will line up from second place with Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) in third; Perolari with his best Superpole result since the season-opening Australian Round.

Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) Will start in fourth place with Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in fifth place; although the Italian will start Race 1 from the pit lane as a penalty for the collision with Jules Cluzel at the Pirelli Teruel Round. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) qualified in sixth place but will move up a place for Race 1 due to de Rosa’s penalty.

Kyle Smith (GMT94 Yamaha), standing in for the injured Cluzel, was in seventh placed in the classification with Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) in eighth place alongside his Kallio Racing teammate Hannes Soomer completing the third row in the timings. Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) completes the top ten after showing impressive pace again.

Oscar Gutierrez (GMT94 Yamaha), making a wildcard appearance, qualified in 12^th place with Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) the highest placed WorldSSP Challenge rider in 14^th place. Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) crashed in the early stages of the session at the right-hander of Turn 4 with the Italian unable to set a lap time in the Tissot Superpole session.

Top six following WorldSSP Tissot Superpole, full results here:

1.) Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) 1’44.958s

2.) Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.031s

3.) Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.246s

4.) Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) +0.339s

5.) Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +0.543s

6.) Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.618s

You can follow the action throughout the Catalunya Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!