Qualifying report

World Superbike

Baz grabs career first Tissot-Superpole

Loris Baz, with a 1'34.357 lap time - a new outright best lap of the Assen circuit - set moments before the arrival of the rain.

Edited: Apr 26, 2014, 6:33 PM

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Loris Baz

Assen (the Netherlands) - Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) will start both of tomorrow’s 21-lap races from pole position after securing the first Tissot-Superpole of his career today at Assen, courtesy of his 1'34.357 lap time (a new outright best lap of the circuit) set moments before the arrival of the rain.

As we have seen already this season under the new format, the 15 minute shootout is proving to be a close and exciting addition to the Tissot-Superpole and in today’s shootout it was the turn of Baz to shine.

Joining Baz on the front row tomorrow will be fellow Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), with Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team), Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) forming the second row.

In the EVO category Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) was the fastest qualifier in 7th position overall, improving over a second on his morning time.

Superpole 1 saw Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) and Marco progress into the final fifteen minute shootout with the other ten already seeded riders following Free Practice.

Loris Baz: “I am not sure why my lap time was so good but I had been feeling good all weekend and I was just missing one or two tenths from yesterday. Superpole was just perfect. I knew it was going to rain so I just pushed as hard as I could and I am really happy with this performance. I think we are better with a qualifier just because of all the changes we made in set-up this year. Everything is about confidence because the bike is working well and every time on the bike you build confidence. Being on the podium twice in Aragon made me very confident for all the season.”

Sylvain Guintoli: “We made a lot of progress today, session after session, and Superpole gave us a final confirmation of that. I was fast and had a good feeling straight away. This is a big boost of confidence for tomorrow’s races. It's always a shame to miss the pole position when you know you could have taken it, but a front row start is an excellent result nevertheless, especially on a track like Assen. We have also taken a big step forward in terms of race pace and tomorrow, if the weather will be on our side, we will definitely be in the mix.”

Times: 1. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'34.357 average 173.291 kph; 2. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1'34.845; 3. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'35.311; 4. Melandri (Aprilia) 1'35.333; 5. Rea (Honda) 1'35.361; 6. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'35.476; 7. Canepa (Ducati) 1'35.500; 8. Laverty (Suzuki) 1'35.646; 9. Lowes (Suzuki) 1'35.684; 10. Elias (Aprilia) 1'36.203; 11. Haslam (Honda) 1'36.284; 12. Davies (Ducati) 1'36.288.

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