Barcelona WSBK: Lecuona scores Honda's first pole in six years

Having set the pace in Friday practice on the factory Honda Fireblade, Lecuona was again the rider to beat in the 15-minute pole shootout on Saturday as he edged out Kawasaki duo Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea to the top spot.

With the track having dried out for the start of qualifying following rain showers overnight, the Spanish rider was immediately able to lower his FP1 benchmark of 1m41.396s by 0.066s.

This put him 0.011s clear of the factory Kawasaki of Lowes and a full three tenths up on Toprak Razgatlioglu after the first runs, as Xavi Vierge occupied fourth run on the other works Honda.

When the riders returned on track on fresh tyres for a final shot at pole position, it was Andrea Locatelli who made the biggest initial gains, dislodging Lecuona from the top with a 1m40.991s.

But Lecuona immediately fought back, finding a whopping six tenths on his final flier to seal his maiden pole position with a time of 1m40.766s - and a first for Honda since Michael van der Mark six years ago.

Lowes equalled his best starting position of the season in second, falling just 0.023s shy of scoring a second career pole position in WSBK.

Rea didn’t have the pace to match his teammate or overall pacesetter Lecuona, but was the best-placed championship contender in third with a time of 1m40.983s.

Locatelli had to settle for fourth after his early heroics in the second run, but he did beat the Ducati of championship leader Alvaro Bautista by more than a tenth of a second.

The tag of the top independent rider went to GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff as he booked a spot on the outside of the second row, although Axel Bassani qualifying right behind him in seventh on the Motocorsa Ducati.

Toprak Razgatlioglu endured his worst qualifying session of the season as his strategy to follow Locatellli on his second run backfired, leaving him a disappointing eighth on the grid.

He will be joined on the third row by Vierge’s Honda, as Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi rebounded from an early crash to take 10th at the finish.

No BMWs featured inside the top 10, with the marque’s best runner Scott Redding finishing more than a second off the pace in 13th.

Barcelona WSBK - Qualifying results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	1'40.766
2	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1'40.789	0.023
3	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1'40.983	0.217
4	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	1'40.991	0.225
5	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'41.148	0.382
6	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	1'41.208	0.442
7	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	1'41.594	0.828
8	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	1'41.638	0.872
9	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	1'41.683	0.917
10	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	1'41.836	1.070
11	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	1'41.937	1.171
12	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	1'42.028	1.262
13	45	Scott Redding	BMW	1'42.038	1.272
14	76	Loris Baz	BMW	1'42.384	1.618
15	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	1'42.469	1.703
16	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	1'42.469	1.703
17	29	Luca Bernardi	Ducati	1'42.473	1.707
18	2	Roberto Tamburini	Yamaha	1'42.509	1.743
19	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	1'42.916	2.150
20	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	1'43.005	2.239
21	99	Oscar Gutierrez	Kawasaki	1'43.075	2.309
22	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	1'43.182	2.416
23	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	1'44.128	3.362
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