Davide Giugliano showed no signs of rustiness at Imola World Superbikes as the Italian rider put his Ducati on pole for tomorrow’s two races.
A stunning 1’46.382 during the qualifying session was enough to secure top spot on the front row as Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea continued Kawasaki’s good Imola form with second and third, but crucially neither could depose Giugliano.
It has been a dominant weekend for Ducati and Kawasaki so far and Superpole was no different, demonstrated in the fact that coming in behind Sykes and Rea was Giugliano’s team-mate Chaz Davies.
Davies’ 1’46.672 will have pleased the Welshman and he has put himself in an excellent place ahead of the races as he seeks to close the gap further on championship leader Rea.
Rea’s closest challenger Leon Haslam again put his Aprilia in fifth place, a spot he has held almost all weekend. The gulf in results between Haslam and his team-mate Jordi Torres has been challenging for the Red Devils Aprilia team but the Spaniard was able to produce an impressive Superpole performance and he took sixth with a 1’47.394.
Leandro Mercado, Ayrton Badovini and David Salom continued their own good performances rounding out the top ten, along with Superpole one victor Michael Van Der Mark.
The Dutchman posted a 1’47.778 to take himself into the decisive shoot-out, along with Leon Camier on a 1’48.029 and he was then able to ride his Honda into eighth place with a 1’48.225 in the second qualifying session.
Camier could not make any impression on his initial result and he placed 12th, one ahead of fellow Briton Alex Lowes as Voltcom Crescent Suzuki made very small gains following a disastrous last round at Assen.
