Toprak Razgatlioglu secured his fourth pole position of the season at Most, while Alvaro Bautista starts down in 13th after an uncharacteristically out-of-sorts Superpole.

Heralding a dramatic flip in the script for the two main title contenders, Razgatlioglu enjoyed a trouble-free morning on the Pata Yamaha R1 to take the top spot by a comfortable four-tenths of a second from Axel Bassani.

His second pole position in a row, the Turkish rider is presented with an excellent chance to close the gap down on championship leader Bautista after the Spaniard was once again caught out by yellow flags at inopportune times.

It means he has some work to do in at least two of the weekend’s three races from the fifth row of the grid, giving Razgatlioglu - who brought the gap between the pair down to 70 points at Imola - an opportunity to close the gap on his rival.

Joining Razgatlioglu on the front row will be his Imola sparring partner Bassani, the in-form Motocorsa Ducati rider coming into Race 1 looking to take the step he needs to secure his maiden WorldSBK win this weekend.

Garrett Gerloff, meanwhile, was an impressive third on the Bonovo BMW M 1000 RR, the American rider scoring a career best grid position in the process having led the way in FP3 earlier in the morning.

Andrea Locatelli headed up an all-Italian second row from Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Danilo Petrucci, while Jonathan Rea had to make do with seventh after suffering a crash late on aboard the factory Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

Dominique Aegerter was the quickest of the GYTR GTR Yamaha riders in eighth place, despite also coming down late on around the tricky double apex final corner, this Swiss followed up by his team-mate Remy Gardner in ninth. 

Xavi Vierge was the fastest of the factory Honda riders in tenth position, ahead of Alex Lowes, Loris Baz and Bautista.

Most WorldSBK | Superpole Qualifying Results

Saturday | Conditions - Dry, Sunny