Qualifying report
World Superbike Barcelona
Barcelona WSBK: Sykes grabs pole to snap Rea's streak
BMW rider Tom Sykes put an end to Jonathan Rea's streak of World Superbike pole positions by beating Toprak Razgatlioglu to the top spot in qualifying at Barcelona.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Sep 18, 2021, 11:38 AM
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Sykes came through at the end of the 15-minute Superpole session on Saturday morning to post a best time of 1m40.408s for his first pole since last year's Phillip Island round, and the first for BMW's M1000RR.
The 2013 world champion - who is currently out of a ride for 2022 after losing his seat to Ducati man Scott Redding - was fastest in the first runs, as he was the only rider to break the 1m41s barrier.
Kawasaki rider Rea couldn't match his former teammate on his first run, but on his second run he marginally shaded Sykes with a 1m40.921s to keep his hopes of a ninth straight pole alive.
But that time was soon beaten by championship leader Razgatlioglu, who recorded a 1m40.694s on his Yamaha, and then by Sykes' final effort that netted the BMW rider a record-extending 51st WSBK pole.
Redding was the best of the Ducati riders in fourth ahead of Alex Lowes on the second factory Kawasaki and Andrea Locatelli, who is now confirmed to be staying at Yamaha for another two seasons.
Leon Haslam had his best lap of his first run deleted for exceeding track limits, but banked a time at the end of the session good enough for seventh on the best of the Hondas.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati), Sykes' BMW teammate Michael van der Mark and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) completed the top 10.
Tito Rabat's replacement for the rest of the season at Barni Ducati, Samuele Cavalieri, was a solid 14th in his first qualifying since June's Misano round, one place behind the Go Eleven machine of Chaz Davies.
Alvaro Bautista was a disappointing 16th on the second Honda, eight tenths slower than teammate Haslam.
Australian debutant Lachlan Epis was 22nd and last aboard his year-old Pedercini Kawasaki, some five seconds off the pace.
Qualifying results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 66 Tom Sykes
BMW 1'40.408 2 54 Toprak Razgatlioglu
Yamaha 1'40.694 0.286 3 1 Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 1'40.921 0.513 4 45 Scott Redding
Ducati 1'40.978 0.570 5 22 Alex Lowes
Kawasaki 1'41.086 0.678 6 55 Andrea Locatelli
Yamaha 1'41.129 0.721 7 91 Leon Haslam
Honda 1'41.253 0.845 8 21 Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 1'41.275 0.867 9 60 Michael van der Mark
BMW 1'41.320 0.912 10 31 Garrett Gerloff
Yamaha 1'41.405 0.997 11 47 Axel Bassani
Ducati 1'41.632 1.224 12 3 Kohta Nozane
Yamaha 1'41.744 1.336 13 7 Chaz Davies
Ducati 1'41.791 1.383 14 76 Samuele Cavalieri
Ducati 1'41.801 1.393 15 44 Lucas Mahias
Kawasaki 1'41.808 1.400 16 19 Alvaro Bautista
Honda 1'42.055 1.647 17 36 Leandro Mercado
Honda 1'42.215 1.807 18 94 Jonas Folger
BMW 1'42.257 1.849 19 32 Isaac Viñales
Kawasaki 1'42.446 2.038 20 23 Christophe Ponsson
Yamaha 1'42.460 2.052 21 84 Loris Cresson
Kawasaki 1'43.841 3.433 22 83 Lachlan Epis
Kawasaki 1'45.732 5.324 View full results
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