The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship hit the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time at the Acerbis Catalunya Round with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claiming pole position in the Tissot Superpole session as the Northern Irishman looks to maintain his lead at the top of the Championship across the weekend as 14 riders qualified within one second of Rea’s pace setting time.

Rea topped the times with a 1’41.619s as he put on the qualifying tyre, with the rest of the field, right at the end of the session as track conditions continued to improve following a morning session. Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) will start in second place; Razgatlioglu topping the session until Rea went faster by less than a tenth. The pair will be joined on the front row by Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) with the Spanish rider, who had shown strong pace all weekend, qualifying in third place; Bautista securing Honda’s first front row start since Buriram in 2018 with Leon Camier.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) will start Race 1 from fourth place after posting a time around two tenths away from Rea’s time. Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) qualified in fifth place during Superpole; the Dutchman also showing rapid pace throughout the weekend in all conditions. They will be joined by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN); the Italian able to top the times in the early part of the session.

Championship contender Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) will start on the third row in seventh place; the British rider having a lot of work to do in Race 1 to start clawing into Rea’s Championship lead. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) complete the third row in eighth and ninth while Leon Haslam (Team HRC) secured a top ten starting spot after being the first rider to put on the qualifying time.

Friday star Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) will start in 15^th after the Superpole session with the American hoping his pace from Friday translates into strong race pace. Lorenzo Zanetti (Motocorsa Racing) qualified in 18^th place after just 20 minutes of track time as a late replacement for the injured Leandro Mercado, while wildcard Jonas Folger (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing) did not set a time.

Top six following WorldSBK Tissot Superpole, full results here:

1.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’41.619s

2.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +0.094s

3.) Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) +0.138s

4.) Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.204s

5.) Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +0.354s

6.) Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) +0.597s

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