Italian duo Andrea Pizzoli and Devis Bergamini emerged as the class of the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup field in today’s Superpole at Donington Park, with the Misano race-winner edging out his rival to take pole position by a thousandth of a second.

The day began with a 30-minute Free Practice session which saw a lot of activity, with many of the 21 riders having never raced at the famous UK venue. In the end, it was Aragon race-winner Bergamini who came out on top, beating championship leader Enzo Valentim by 0.176s.

Fellow Brazilian Gustavo Manso was third fastest, ahead of Poland’s Jurand Kusmierczyk, who was the last of the riders to record a sub-1’48 lap time. Kevin Fontainha rounded out the top five, with Marc Vich using his prior experience of Donington to set the sixth-fastest time.

With track temperatures much higher in qualifying, it looked as if Bergamini was going to dominate the session, as he went over a second faster than the rest of the field. But with 10 minutes to go, Pizzoli produced a stunning lap to snatch his second consecutive pole position.

Manso got within half-a-second of the two out front, continuing his strong pace from Free Practice to go third quickest. Valentim was in the mix once again, ending the session in fourth ahead of France’s Clement Rougé.

Fontainha completes the second row for tomorrow’s races, with Vich, Polish youngster David Nowak and Australia’s Archie McDonald making up row three, while French rider Gregory Carbonnel rounded out the top 10.

After the session, the top five riders, as well as Eduardo Burr, Vich and Carbonnel were handed long-lap penalties for tomorrow’s opening race due to excessive slowing on the straight.

“I’m very happy for the pole position here at Donington,” Pizzoli said. “The track is very difficult; it’s the first time riding here for me. It was tight between me and Devis, and I think the races will be very close. Thank you to my team, my family, Yamaha and my sponsors for always supporting me.”