Jonathan Rea will start round three of the 2023 WorldSBK Championship from pole position after benefiting from a grid penalty for series leader Alvaro Bautista at Assen.

The Spaniard - who holds a comfortable 37 point lead over Toprak Razgatlioglu in the overall standings after five wins from six races - looked to have secured only his third pole since the start of his dominant era in 2022 after stopping the clock at 1m 33.569secs.

However, stewards took a dim view of his slow wavering exit from the pit-lane, which forced Loris Baz to run out wide at Turn 1 just as he was starting his fast lap.

As a result, he was demoted three spots to fourth on the grid, promoting Rea onto his first pole position of the year.

After admitting to troubles on Friday, Toprak Razgatlioglu recovered from his lacklustre form to collect second on the grid as the best-placed Yamaha rider, heading off Alex Lowes, who moves up to the front row as a result of Bautista's penalty.Scott Redding pulled it out of the bag to secure fifth on the grid aboard the ROKiT BMW M 1000 RR as he makes the most of what appears to be a more competitive turn by the German manufacturer.

He gets away just ahead of Andrea Locatelli, who rounded out the second row in sixth place, while top independent rider was Dominique Aegerter, who shares a third row with fellow privateers Axel Bassani and Danilo Petrucci.

A podium winner in 2022, Iker Lecuona has it all do to repeat that from tenth as the highest-placed Honda rider, ahead of Remy Gardner and Xavi Vierge.

Elsewhere, displaced riders include home hope Michael van der Mark, who could only manage 15th, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi was a lowly 16th on the second of the factory Ducati bikes.

WorldSBK debutant Bradley Ray enjoyed a solid Superpole on the Motoxracing Yamaha, the reigning BSB Champion in 18th, ahead of Puccetti Kawasaki's Tom Sykes in 20th.

WorldSBK Qualifying Results - Assen