Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea will start from pole for both World Superbike races at Imola tomorrow, after putting down a 1’46.289. The Northern Irishman put in a dominant performance which led to him  out-pacing both Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli and Ducati’s Davide Giugliano.

Initially it was Giugliano’s first lap in the session that was enough to place him on provisional pole with a 1’47.172 after five minutes followed by Rea and Ducati's Chaz Davies. On the three minute 30 mark Guintoli did a 1’46.554 to pull Giugliano back down to second.

With a minute to go Rea went three tenths quicker than Frenchman Guintoli to go quickest, to cement his fourth pole start of his Superbike career, with Guintoli and Giugliano completing the front row – with only one one-thousandths of a second separating the French and Italian racers.

Davies missed out on a front row start by a tenth from his Italian team-mate and heads row two, followed by Aprilia’s Marco Melandri and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes. The current champ’s best time of 1’46.767 was nearly a second off his own outright lap record that he clocked last year.

Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty is sandwiched between Kawasaki's Loris Baz and Althea Racing's Niccolo Canepa on row three. The Irishman was unable to lap inside the 1’46 bracket, and had to settle for a 1’47.715.

Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam was a bit battered and bruised after an early high-side in FP4, but he and his bike made it out for qualifying and the Smalley rider put in a brave performance to qualify tenth on the grid after a 1’48.242.

Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes had a gearbox issue which meant he was unable to leave his garage to contest for a pole position. He will start the races tomorrow from twelfth on the grid. The Derby based rider will share the fourth row with Haslam and BMW Italia’s Leon Camier. But the tall Englishman was not the leading Evo bike this afternoon. That accolade went to Canepa who finished the session ninth overall.

In Superpole one Camier set the pace and was in contention of moving into Superpole two, with fellow Evo rider Althea Racing’s Niccolo Canepa and Red Roma’s Toni Elias close behind.

With four minutes remaining Camier was still leading the charge, only for Goi to go six tenths quicker to go fastest - only for his fellow countryman, Canepa to edge on ahead with his best lap of 1’48.359.

With the two local riders upping the pace it meant that Camier was pushed down to third, but a last lap dash paid off and he pushed his way to second and through to Superpole two, for a chance to challenge for a front row start after a 1’48.474.

The Kent rider was joined in Superpole two with Canepa. Alstare’s Christian Iddon was never really in contention for a top two place in Superpole two, as he could only muster a 1’49.997. The Stockport rider will start the races tomorrow from the seventh row.