Qualifying report
World Superbike Buriram
Buriram WSBK: Dominant Bautista takes first pole
Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista claimed his first World Superbike pole in dominant fashion, beating Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea by over four tenths of a second in qualifying at Buriram.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Mar 16, 2019, 6:51 AM
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Bautista initially trailed early pace-setter Alex Lowes (Yamaha) in the 25-minute session, before bolting in a 1m32.718s flyer to move to the top of the timesheets.
He managed to shave off another tenth on his next lap, ending the first qualifying run comfortably quicker than the rest of the field.
The Spanish rider managed to find yet more time after returning to the track with 10 minutes to go, clocking a time of 1m31.912s to further extend his advantage.
Rea improved significantly in the final sector in an attempt to repeat his Phillip Island heroics, but fell 0.429s short of dislodging Bautista from pole position.
Lowes made a late improvement of his own to secure the final spot on the front row, while World Supersport graduate Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) impressed to qualify fourth in only his second WSBK weekend.
Leon Haslam was fifth quickest in the second of the factory Kawasakis, ahead of BMW’s Tom Sykes.
GRT Yamaha’s Marco Melandri and Team GoEleven rider Eugene Laverty were classified seventh and eighth respectively, while Chaz Davies qualified ninth, over a second down on his pole-sitting teammate.
The top 10 was completed by factory Yamaha rider Michael van der Mark.
Qualifying results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 19 
Alvaro Bautista Ducati 1'31.912 2 1 
Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'32.341 0.429 3 22 
Alex Lowes Yamaha 1'32.440 0.528 4 11 
Sandro Cortese Yamaha 1'32.608 0.696 5 91 
Leon Haslam Kawasaki 1'32.688 0.776 6 66 Tom Sykes BMW 1'32.909 0.997 7 33 
Marco Melandri Yamaha 1'33.002 1.090 8 50 
Eugene Laverty Ducati 1'33.037 1.125 9 7 
Chaz Davies Ducati 1'33.196 1.284 10 60 
Michael van der Mark Yamaha 1'33.243 1.331 11 28 
Markus Reiterberger BMW 1'33.257 1.345 12 2 
Leon Camier Honda 1'33.269 1.357 13 54 
Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 1'33.466 1.554 14 36 
Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 1'33.529 1.617 15 81 Jordi Torres Kawasaki 1'33.535 1.623 16 21 
Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 1'33.651 1.739 17 23 
Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda 1'33.758 1.846 18 99 
Thitipong Warokorn Kawasaki 1'33.817 1.905 19 52 Alessandro Delbianco Honda 1'35.596 3.684
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