Most WSBK: Rea continues perfect 2021 qualifying record
Jonathan Rea continued his perfect qualifying record in the 2021 World Superbike season as he beat title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu to pole position on the series' first visit to the Czech Most circuit.
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Kawasaki man Rea left it until the very end of the 15-minute Superpole shootout to grab the top spot with a best time of 1m31.684s on what was his third run of the session.
That put the six-time world champion 0.067s up on the Yamaha of Razgatlioglu, who had taken the provisional top spot with two minutes to go only to see his time toppled by Rea.
It means Rea has taken six poles from a possible six in 2021, giving him the longest pole streak in WSBK since Tom Sykes' similar run in 2013.
Ducati's Scott Redding, who topped third practice earlier in the day, briefly looked like topping the times, as he was fastest in the first two sectors on his penultimate lap - which he lost to a yellow flag - and then fastest in the first three sectors on his last attempt.
But his qualifying tyre couldn't quite hang on for a second full lap and he dropped half a second in the final sector alone, ending up third on the grid behind Rea and Razgatlioglu.
Sykes was fourth-fastest for BMW ahead of the GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff in fifth and the second of the Crescent-run works R1s of Andrea Locatelli.
Leon Haslam was best of the Honda runners in seventh, while the top 10 was completed by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati).
Alvaro Bautista could only manage 11th on the second factory Honda, slotting in ahead of the two YART Yamaha wildcards that are using FIM Endurance World Championship-spec bikes: Marvin Fritz and home hero Karel Hanika.
Chaz Davies' struggles continued on the Go Eleven Ducati as he qualified down in 16th, one place ahead of the second BMW of Michael van der Mark.
American rider Jayson Uribe qualified 23rd and last for his first-ever WSBK race on his Pedercini Kawasaki.
Qualifying results:
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 |
Jonathan Rea
|
Kawasaki | 1'31.684 | |
2 | 54 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu
|
Yamaha | 1'31.751 | 0.067 |
3 | 45 |
Scott Redding
|
Ducati | 1'32.158 | 0.474 |
4 | 66 |
Tom Sykes
|
BMW | 1'32.173 | 0.489 |
5 | 31 |
Garrett Gerloff
|
Yamaha | 1'32.238 | 0.554 |
6 | 55 |
Andrea Locatelli
|
Yamaha | 1'32.335 | 0.651 |
7 | 91 |
Leon Haslam
|
Honda | 1'32.352 | 0.668 |
8 | 21 |
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
|
Ducati | 1'32.530 | 0.846 |
9 | 22 |
Alex Lowes
|
Kawasaki | 1'32.559 | 0.875 |
10 | 47 |
Axel Bassani
|
Ducati | 1'32.911 | 1.227 |
11 | 19 |
Alvaro Bautista
|
Honda | 1'32.928 | 1.244 |
12 | 17 |
Marvin Fritz
|
Yamaha | 1'33.164 | 1.480 |
13 | 98 |
Karel Hanika
|
Yamaha | 1'33.249 | 1.565 |
14 | 52 |
Alessandro Del Bianco
|
Honda | 1'33.434 | 1.750 |
15 | 53 |
Tito Rabat
|
Ducati | 1'33.470 | 1.786 |
16 | 7 |
Chaz Davies
|
Ducati | 1'33.607 | 1.923 |
17 | 60 |
Michael van der Mark
|
BMW | 1'33.994 | 2.310 |
18 | 3 |
Kohta Nozane
|
Yamaha | 1'34.167 | 2.483 |
19 | 32 |
Isaac Viñales
|
Kawasaki | 1'34.280 | 2.596 |
20 | 23 |
Christophe Ponsson
|
Yamaha | 1'34.444 | 2.760 |
21 | 94 |
Jonas Folger
|
BMW | 1'34.499 | 2.815 |
22 | 84 |
Loris Cresson
|
Kawasaki | 1'35.330 | 3.646 |
23 | 14 |
Jayson Uribe
|
Kawasaki | 1'36.118 | 4.434 |
View full results |
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