(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ducati factory rider Alvaro Bautista has secured pole position at the Superbike World Championship in Misano (Italy) (see Superpole result). In the Superpole, Bautista set a new lap record of 1:33.017 minutes. An engine failure on Gabriele Ruiu’s BMW caused the session to be cancelled and cost several riders the second flying lap.

Before the Superpole, Alvaro Bautista’s FT3 best time (1:33.352 minutes) was the fastest lap of the weekend (see FT3 report). As in the previous sessions, the 25 drivers found perfect conditions.

Alex Lowes crashed right at the start of the Superpole. The Kawasaki factory rider crashed in Turn 1, but was able to continue the session. The yellow flags meant that Alvaro Bautista’s first flying lap was cancelled.

Alvaro Bautista only third after the first attempt

On the second flying lap of the first stint, Alvaro Bautista briefly moved into the lead. But Toprak Razgatlioglu was a touch faster than the world champion. Razgatlioglu set a new lap record at the first attempt with a time of 1:33.182 minutes. And Danilo Petrucci was also faster than Alvaro Bautista and moved into second position.

But the last word had not yet been spoken. Alvaro Bautista was the first top driver to start the second attempt. With a lap of 1:33.017, Bautista beat Razgatlioglu’s time by 0.165 seconds.

Cancellation after engine failure on Gabriele Ruiu’s BMW

On the following lap, Bautista was on course for the first 1:32 lap, but a crash in turn 8 prevented another record lap.

A little later, the Superpole had to be stopped because the engine of Gabriele Ruiu’s BMW went up in smoke. The race management decided not to restart the Superpole with 1:45 minutes remaining.

Alvaro Bautista thus secured pole position. Toprak Razgatlioglu was also on course for the fastest time in the final attempt, but had to abort the lap because of the incident. Michael Rinaldi completes the first row. This means that there are two Ducatis and one Yamaha in the first row.

Danilo Petrucci narrowly misses the first row

Two more Ducatis follow in the second row. Danilo Petrucci finished Superpole in P4 and leads row two. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa-Ducati) follows in P5. Record champion Jonathan Rea completes the second row with his Kawasaki.

© Barni

Dominique Aegerter (GRT-Yamaha) leads the third row in seventh place. Iker Lecuona (Honda) and Remy Gardner (GRT-Yamaha) follow in eighth and ninth positions. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki), Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) and Scott Redding (BMW) form the fourth row. Redding crashed on the final attempt.

Philipp Öttl on the fifth row, “Mister Superpole” far behind

Philipp Öttl (GoEleven-Ducati) could not confirm his strong FT3 result and finished the Superpole in P13. The German leads the fifth row of the grid, which also includes Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo-BMW) and Bradley Ray (Motoxracing-Yamaha).

Tom “Mister Superpole” Sykes did not manage to get beyond P18 in his BMW comeback. Sykes lost 1.477 seconds on Bautista’s pole time. BMW brand colleague Loris Baz is only on starting position 22 because he received a grid penalty. In FP3, Baz drove slowly on the racing line and hindered Tito Rabat (Puccetti-Kawasaki).

Round one of the Superbike World Championship in Misano starts at 2:00 p.m. (TV overview).