Alvaro Bautista gave himself the possible chance to wrap up the 2023 WorldSBK Championship title with two races in hand as he pipped Dominique Aegerter to pole position in Jerez.

Needing only two points from any one of the three races taking place in Spain this weekend, Bautista’s cause was aided further by Toprak Razgatlioglu only managing seventh best.

Indeed, the Spaniard was the familiar face at the front of an otherwise fairly unusual grid line-up with Aegerter carrying his strong form from free practice through to Superpole to qualify just a hundredth shy of pole position, the Swiss rider well placed to challenge for his first podium of the year.

Having struggled for pace in free practice, the Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea pulled it out of the bag when it mattered to secure third and fourth on the grid, while Remy Gardner consolidated GYTR GRT team-mate Aegerter’s strong result with his own fifth on the grid

Philipp Oettl - in his final appearance for Go Eleven Ducati - will start sixth, ahead of Razgatlioglu, who couldn’t join his Yamaha satellite stablemates in making an impression any higher than seventh. 

Scott Redding led the BMW challenge in eighth place, just ahead of fellow M 1000 RR rider Garrett Gerloff in ninth, while Andrea Locatelli rounded out the top ten.