Alvaro Bautista extended his run of Superpoles to three-in-a-row ahead of round five of the 2023 WorldSBK Championship at Misano, despite ending his session on the deck after a rare spill.

Fresh from another hat-trick of wins - his third of the season - over a single weekend in Barcelona last time out, from Bautista's home soil to Ducati's local turf, the ex-MotoGP rider came into Superpole as hot favourite following arguably his most dominant showing in practice yet.

And so it proved, Bautista getting the edge on his final time attack with a 1m 33.017secs lap. It came shortly before the session was red flagged with just under two minutes on the clock remaining, though it was just as well since the Spaniard was down on the asphalt after low-siding at Turn 8.

The late stoppage - caused by Gabriele Ruiu's expiring Bmax BMW - denied Bautista's rivals from capitalising on his slip.

Indeed, Bautista's eventual pole-winning benchmark was a closer run thing than anticipated, with Toprak Razgatlioglu little more than a tenth shy of causing a minor upset.

However, the Yamaha rider remains the odd one out up front with Ducati riders filling positions 1-3-4-5, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi - who nabbed his first front row since Most - ahead of top privateers Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing).

One of several riders to have their final flyers scuppered by the untimely red flag, Jonathan Rea had to settle for sixth on the grid, with Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha), Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda) and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha) filling row three.

Alex Lowes overcame an early spill to round out the top ten, while fellow Briton Scott Redding was another faller, the ROKiT BMW rider coming down late on at Turn 2 to leave him 12th on the grid.

Of the other Brits, Tom Sykes will start 18th for his first race since returning to the factory BMW squad, while Bradley Ray notched up best Superpole result of the season thus far in 15th.

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