Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea rode to a dominating WorldSBK pole position this morning, breaking old rival Tom Sykes’ five-year run in Superpole at Donington Park.

The BMW man completed the session third after teammate Michael Van Der Mark denied his efforts in the closing seconds.

Heavy rain throughout the night and across Saturday morning meant the WorldSBK class were greeted by a wet Donington track as Superpole got underway for the UK round. Rea topped the sodden FP3 session, from Kawasaki teammate Alex Lowes, with local riders Leon Haslam and Sykes heading an impressive showing from Garrett Gerloff on his debut at the British track. Ducati’s Scott Redding had a less than favourable final practice after crashing out at the Melbourne loop with five minutes to go.

The rain abating, the 15-minute Superpole shootout was declared wet with the slim chance of a dry line due to the humid conditions. Rea was the first out on track as the pack descended on the 4km layout, Sykes undefeated in Superpole at Donington since 2015 as he hunted to retain his crown on the BMW.

The ex-Provec teammates resumed their battle as the opening laps registered. Rea heading Sykes before Lowes struck for second, with Haslam completing the all-Brit top-four at the halfway stage.

Van Der Mark sat fifth from Lucas Mahias and Gerloff with Axel Bassani, Eugene Laverty and Andrea Locatelli completing the initial top-10. The Irishman recovering strongly after missing a large section on Friday practice due to technical issues.

The closing five minutes saw Rea continued to advance the pace thanks to a 1’40.101 on his fifth effort, Haslam succumbing at Coppice moments later and losing his fourth place to the ever-improving GRT Yamaha of Gerloff.

Van Der Mark struck for second to deny his old teammate, as Gerloff followed suit, for third with just over a minute left to play. Sykes, however, was far from done as the Brit claimed the runners-up spot as he pushed to improve.

The final efforts saw Rea safely on pole, over half a second clear of the rest. Van Der Mark advancing to second with a last-second effort as Sykes concluded the front row by securing third. Lowes will line up for his 200th WorldSBK showing from fourth on the gird, Gerloff and Redding alongside, due to a late effort from the Ducati-man.

Haslam heads row three from Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Chaz Davies, with Mahias completing the top-10. Locatelli and Bassani finished their first qualifying at the UK track in 11th and 12th respectively with Toprak Razgatlioglu sitting a somewhat disappointing 13th. Luke Mossey qualified 14th from Laverty, Alvaro Bautista and Issac Viñales with Tito RABAT, Christophe Ponsson, Jonas Folger and Loris Cresson completing the standings.