Honda’s Iker Lecuona was celebrating in Catalunya on Saturday morning after securing his maiden WorldSBK Superpole.
A 140.766 in a dramatic final shuffle was enough to deny Britain’s Alex Lowes by just two-hundredths of a second as the shootout drew to a close, Kawasaki locking out the remainder of the front row as Jonathan Rea completed the set in third.
A turn one crash for Aruba.it Ducati’s Michael Rinaldi kicked off Superpole with a bang at Barcelona on Saturday morning. The Superbike class having rolled out of pitlane en masse as rain threatened to impede proceedings with Honda’s Iker Lecuona immediately taking charge on 1’41.330 pace.
KRT’s Lowes sat second from reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu as the session intensified with the Brit further improving his time on the next attempt. Teammate Jonathan Rea was relegated to sixth by Honda’s Xavi Vierge and Aruba.it Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista with Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli, BMW’s Scott Redding, Motocorsa’s Axel Bassani and Bonovo’s Loris Baz rounding out the top ten.
The second runs found the Pata duo running tandem on track as Locatelli stormed to provisional pole. Bautista slotting in behind, before Lowes briefly took control. Lecuona was back in front at his home circuit as he denied the Brit by a mere 0.023s as the clock counted down, Rea joining Lowes on the front row in the final minute.
With the chequered flag flying, Garret Gerloff improved his pace to consolidate sixth behind Locatelli and Bautista, Bassani heading Razgatlioglu and Vierge on the third row as Rinaldi returned to the track to take tenth in the closing stages.
