#Pata #Honda’s Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two eleventh-round World Superbike championship races from the front row of the grid after setting the third fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole at Magny-Cours in France.
On the second lap with his Pirelli qualifying tyre, the 27-year-old Northern Irishman fired his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP around the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit in a time of 1m36.906s, just 0.3s off the pole position time of Tom Sykes.
Rea will line up on the inside of the front row, next to Italian Davide Giugliano, who was second fastest today, as the World Superbike field embarks on two 21-lap races at the French circuit.
Leon Haslam, Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate, was unable to extract the best performance from his qualifying tyre and will start from the fourth row for tomorrow’s races, which go at 10.30 and 13.10 CET.
Jonathan Rea - P3, 1m36.906s
I’m really satisfied with our work because the team has given me a great package here that I can ride really hard. I feel that in the race we’re more prepared because the CBR is quite easy to ride and changing direction here is really good. We’ve been working on acceleration and maximising the power where we need it and also taking some away where it’s maybe too much. In Superpole I made a small mistake on my first lap with the qualifier and ran into the first turn too quickly which ruined the lap. I tried to give it a good go on the second lap and was able to finish on the front row. It gives me an opportunity for a good start and my starts have been really good this year. It’s very important to be on the front row because the hairpin is a big bottleneck for the riders on the first lap. Hop efully I can be at the front of that and set myself up for a good rhythm in the races.
Leon Haslam - P10, 1m37.575s
It’s not been an ideal afternoon, although we went a little bit quicker on the qualifying tyre. But I came across a few issues when we added a bit of grip to the bike. I’m feeling quite confident for the race though, because I feel we’ve got a good direction. It’s looking like it might rain, too, which could put another spanner in the works! I’m feeling good for tomorrow and we’ll see what it brings.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
We’ve been changing a few settings with Leon and not quite getting it right and, as a result, he hasn’t really been able to get a feeling or a rhythm with the set-up of the bike, how it is and what it can do. I think in the end this has caught him out a little bit and left him in tenth place. It’s all close, though, and a few tenths here and there could put you seventh or sixth. We’ll see what we can do in warm-up and give him the best bike possible for the races. Jonathan had a good day with third and a front row start. That’s perfect for us and his race setting is really good. It might even be wet in race one but we’ll see what happens. Either way, we’re ready to race.
Weather
Sunny Intervals
Air
23°C
Track
32°C
Humidity
52%
Qualifying Results - Results
1 Tom Sykes 1m36.366s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Davide Guigliano 1m36.593s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
3 Jonathan Rea 1m36.906s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
4 Chaz Davies 1m37.012s GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
5 Sylvain Guintoli 1m37.184s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
6 Marco Melandri 1m37.190s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
7 Loris Baz 1m37.215s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
8 Alex Lowes 1m37.270s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Eugene Laverty 1m37.407s IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Leon Haslam 1m37.575s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
