The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Tissot Superpole session at the Autodrom Most was a thrilling spectacle. A new circuit and a new challenge saw all of the riders have to bites at the cherry at trying to set pole position, and it was entertaining from the green light. With drama until the end and in the end, it was Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who stormed to a sixth consecutive pole at the start of the season, the fifth rider in WorldSBK history to achieve this, subsequently the 90^th front row of his career.

THE STORY OF SUPERPOLE: unpredictable from the start

At the start of the session, Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was one of a handful of riders that went out on the Q tyre, whilst after the first five minutes, it was Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu who led the way, whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was right in the mix. Alternative strategies were the call of the day at Ducati, as Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi set their first flying laps with less than ten minutes to go, placing first and fourth respectively.

The duel for pole then continued and it was Rea who dazzled, as he went and took over at the top after his first run on the Q tyre, aiming for his sixth consecutive pole of the season. It wasn’t over yet though, as both factory Yamahas and the factory Ducati of Redding went out for their final attempts to try and displace the Ulsterman, whilst Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was also on a march, jumping up to the front row provisionally.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: the final front row

In a frantic final two minutes however, the gloves really came off as Toprak Razgatlioglu rocketed to the top of the standings with a 1’31.751, the first ever sub-1’32 lap of the Autodrom Most, although it would be Jonathan Rea who put in a thrilling final sector to blitz to the top and conquering Razgatlioglu to grab a sixth straight pole at the start of the season. Razgatlioglu was right in the mix and will start from second on the grid, whilst Scott Redding’s final flying lap went away from him at the final sector, but his time was still good enough for third. The top three in the Championship are the top three on the grid, and in the Championship order too.

CLOSE BEHIND: power-packed row two

Tom Sykes’ lap time saw him miss out on the front row by just 0.015s and he will head up the second row from fourth on the grid, whilst American Garrett Gerloff slotted into fifth after a solid Tissot Superpole session. Claiming his best Superpole performance, Andrea Locatelli was sixth and 0.651s behind Rea on the top spot, although at some point throughout the session, all of the top six enjoyed a stint at the top of the timesheets.

THE REST OF THE TOP 10: contenders all the way

Top Honda honours went to Leon Haslam (Team HRC), as the veteran British rider out-qualified teammate Alvaro Bautista for a fifth time in 2021 – Bautista in-turn just 11^th. Eighth place was Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), with the Italian never really featuring too prominently throughout the session. Ninth place belonged to Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who will be wanting more after ending day one in second place. Completing the top ten is Italian Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), the top Independent Ducati on the grid.

SHOCKS AND SURPRISES: outside of the top ten…

There were plenty of surprises throughout the rest of the field, with Marvin Fritz (IXS-YART Yamaha) and fellow wildcard teammate Karel Hanika finishing 12^th and 13^th respectively despite Hanika suffering a crash at Turn 16, whilst there was a huge surprise from super-sub Alessandro Delbianco (MIE Racing Honda Team), who was 14^th and just over half a second from the top ten. Delbianco was ahead of rookie Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) in 15^th, 32-time race winner Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), as the Dutchman enjoyed a dire Superpole session down in 17^th.

Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura), Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport – Yamaha), Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing), Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and debutant teammate Jayson Uribe completed the starting grid for the first ever race at Most at 14:00 local time (GMT+2).

Top six after WorldSBK Superpole, full results here:

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’31.684s

2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.067s

3. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.474s

4. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.489s

5. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.554s

6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.651s

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