The first pole position of the 2022 FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was claimed during the 20-minute Tissot Superpole session at MotorLand Aragon by 2017 Champion Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) With a gap of 0.042s to his nearest rivals, Garcia will start from the front of the grid for both Race 1 and Race 2 of the Pirelli Aragon Round.

THE TOP THREE: an all-Spanish front row

Garcia’s best time was a 2’06.908s as he claimed the second pole position of his WorldSSP300 career. His first pole came at Jerez in 2017, meaning he had a wait of 4 years, 5 months and 19 days between the two pole positions; the longest wait between a rider’s first and second poles in WorldSSP300. He will lead an all-Spanish front row, the first in WorldSSP300 history, in the Aragon Round’s two races, with Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) just 0.042s behind his compatriot for his third front row start while Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) claimed his first front row start with third place with a lap time of 2’07.173s.

JUST MISSING OUT: the riders on row two of the grid

Dutch rider Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) will lead away the second row for his first round with the MTM Kawasaki squad, leading teammate Yuta Okaya who starts fifth. Okaya and Steeman were separated by just 0.004s as they battle for team supremacy in 2022. French rider Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) will start from sixth place after posting a time 2’07.436s, 0.528s away from Garcia’s pace.

LOOKING FOR PROGRESS: kicking off Race 1 and Race 2 from row three

Italian rider Marco Gaggi (Vinales Racing Team) will start from seventh place after posting a best time of 1’07.469s and he will hope to stay in the lead group throughout the two races. He was ahead of German rider Dirk Geiger (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) in eighth place and Dutch rider Ruben Bijman (MTM Kawasaki) in ninth. Bijman was just 0.002s away from Geiger’s best time of a 2’07.515s while Geiger was only 0.046s behind Gaggi.

TO NOTE

Wildcard Victor Rodriguez (2R Racing) will start 20^th after he had a Turn 9 crash in the 20-minute Superpole session, while the sole KTM rider on the grid, Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing), will start 25^th after he crashed at Turn 15 in the early stages of the session.

The top six following WorldSSP300 Superpole, full results here:

1. Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) 2’06.908s

2. Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing Team) +0.042s

3. Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) +0.265s

4. Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) +0.381s

5. Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) +0.385s

6. Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) +0.528s

Watch WorldSSP300 Race 1 from MotorLand Aragon at 12:40 Local Time (GMT+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!