A titanic battle for pole position at the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round saw the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field on track at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. With track temperatures rising all the time throughout the round, the sun was strong and the on-track action also red-hot, with pole position for the weekend up for grabs. After a frenetic 15 minutes and a red flag, it was Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who stormed to pole position and a new lap record with a stunning opening lap.

STORY OF SUPERPOLE: Bautista in league of his own, disaster for Lowes

As the lights went green at the end of pitlane, riders got their tyres up to temperature before getting down to fast times straight away. Alvaro Bautista laid down an incredible benchmark with a 1’40.264s on his first flying lap, an all-time lap record for WorldSBK at the circuit. After the first run, Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was in second ahead of 2022 polesitter Iker Lecuona (Team HRC), whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was fourth ahead of teammate Alex Lowes and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK). Elsewhere after the opening run, Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in P11, Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in P14 all hoped for an improvement in the final five minutes. After one lap, Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) had a technical problem and had to return to the box, whilst Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) was also stuck in the garage.

The second run saw Rea and Redding head out together, something we saw many times throughout the 2022 season, with Redding’s weekend teammate Ivo Lopes tagged on behind. However, their first flying lap was halted for a big crash for Alex Lowes, who lost the front at the final turn, leaving his bike barrelling through the gravel trap. A red flag was shown with 02:21 remaining on the clock. It would now be a one lap shoot-out to find out if anyone would be able to topple Bautista or improve their own grid position. The stoppage was beneficial for Brad Ray, with the British youngster able to get back out onto the circuit after his technical issue.

OLD-STYLE ONE-LAP DASH: a frantic final dash, Bautista on top

In a mad dash to improve their time, riders got out on circuit but Jonathan Rea only just avoided being caught out on his out lap, with the chequered flag coming out moments after. Coming to the line to complete their laps, it was all change on the front row as Rinaldi initially took second from Aegerter, only for the Swiss rider to retaliate, whilst a late-charging Rea snatched third. Rinaldi was relegated off the front row but the one constant was his teammate, as Alvaro Bautista will be keen to grab the holeshot for Race 1. Aegerter took his best Superpole result and was top Yamaha, with Rea keeping his streak of Barcelona front rows alive for a fourth straight season and with a 110^th front row.

ROW TWO: Rinaldi and Lecuona to join podium fight from behind?

On the second row, Michael Ruben Rinaldi is well-and-truly in the mix, even if fourth is perhaps a disservice and not representative of where he’d been up until that point of the weekend. Fifth place on the grid and in the middle of the second row, Iker Lecuona is likewise in contention as he goes for a first rostrum of 2023, whilst Alex Lowes completes the second row in sixth, not being punished too harshly by his rivals after his Turn 14 fall.

THIRD ROW: contrasting emotions complete the top ten

The third row is a power packed one and one that could provide charges and surprises. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was seventh for his joint-best Superpole result in 2023, whilst in eighth, Toprak Razgatlioglu was eighth, suffering his worst Superpole result of 2023, meaning that neither of the factory Yamahas could topple the Independent Yamahas. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was ninth for his best Superpole result of the season and thus since he joined BMW, whilst it was Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was tenth, after a promising display on Friday didn’t come to fruition.

ROUNDING OUT THE ORDER: big names with work to do

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was 11^th and top Independent Ducati, with Xavi Vierge only managing 12^th, with work to do for him in Race 1. Scott Redding could only manage 13^th, whilst it was disappointing in the middle of row five for Axel Bassani, with the top Independent rider in the Championship struggling to make any in-roads so far this weekend. Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven), Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha), Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team), Brad Ray and Ivo Lopes completed the top 20. Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 21^st, ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO), Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing) and Gabriele Ruiu completed the order.

Top six after WorldSBK Superpole, full results here:

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’40.264s

2. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) +0.473s

3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.497s

4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.507s

5. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.519s

6. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.707s

A breath-taking season is well underway, watch it all unfold in style with the WorldSBK VideoPass!