Nicolo Bulega put himself in the best possible position to take a potential pivotal step towards the 2023 WorldSSP Championship title by claiming a dominant seventh pole of the year at Aragon.

The Italian, who heads into this weekend’s tenth round of 12 clutching a 60 point advantage over Stefano Manzi, was in imperious form on the Aruba Ducati Panigale V2 to put more than seven tenths between himself and his closest rival.

That came in the form of Yari Montella who, along with Federico Caricasulo, ensured another Ducati 1-2-3 around the Spanish venue.

However, the latter Barni Racing and Althea Racing duo face a tough task to keep tabs with Bulega, who continued to tighten his grip on the 2023 WorldSSP title, which would come ahead of his promotion to the WorldSBK class with the same team.

Despite tipping off his MV Agusta F3 towards the end of the Superpole session, Marcel Schroetter represented the closest challenge for the Ducati stronghold ahead, the German in fourth and sharing row two with Manzi in fifth and Raffaele de Rosa in sixth.

Of the British contingent, Tom Booth-Amos again had top billing with a solid 13th on the grid aboard his Motozoo Racing Kawasaki, while John McPhee - making his debut with D34G Ducati after splitting with Vince64 - starts both races from 19th. 

Tarran Mackenzie gets underway from 28th, just ahead of MIE Petronas Honda team-mate Adam Norrodin.