Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli bagged the provisional pole spot during the final timed World Superbike free practice session before qualifying, in Sepang. The Frenchman was the only rider to lap inside the 2’03 bracket - with a 203.921 and shaved nearly two seconds from his best lap that he clocked yesterday.
Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes completed the top three after he was able to improve on his time and edged inside the 2’04’s with his best lap – a 2’04.592 placing him well inside the top four. But the reigning champ was still two tenths off the time set by Ducati’s Davide Giugliano. The Italian lapped a 2’04.352 breaking up the Aprilia 1-2-3 from yesterday.
Marco Melandri was never outside the top three on Friday – but slipped back to fourth, with his fellow former MotoGP contender, Red Devils Roma’s Toni Elias rounding off the top five. Ducati’s Chaz Davies managed to out-pace some of his fellow countrymen and snatched seventh from Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea and Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty.
The trio safely made their way into Superpole two, but the same could not be said for their fellow compatriots Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam and Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes. Haslam just made it into Superpole two by the skin of his teeth, after a 2’05.431 meant he ended the session in tenth. But Derby-based Lowes was two tenths of a second off the pace of his friend, meaning he will have to battle it out in Superpole one.
Lowes will not be the only Brit competing in the first Superpole session – Evo rider, Alstare’s Christian Iddon finished the morning 15th overall. BMW Italia’s Leon Camier is still struggling with injury after severely hurting his bicep during a crash from the last round at Donington Park, but he bravely made his way on to the track lapping a 2’06.712 – finishing 17th on the timesheets.
Entrants for Superpole two:
Guintoli
Giugliano
Sykes
Melandri
Elias
Baz
Davies
Rea
Laverty
Haslam
