2018 Magny-Cours World Superbike Superpole Results: Smart Strategies Don't Always Work | MotoMatters.com

Submitted by Jared Earle on Sat, 2018-09-29 09:27

World Superbike Superpole started the first session at the new early time and eleven riders competed for the two spots in the second session, with Eugene Laverty and Leon Camier the favourites to promote themselves.

Leon Camier opened the session with a 1'38.106, but Eugene Laverty pushed him down a spot on his first lap. Camier's second lap put him back on top only for Laverty's second lap of 1'37.617 to depose him once again as the riders headed to the mid-session break. Laverty and Camier were over six tenths clear of Tati Mercado's third placed time before the break.

Eugene Laverty waited in the pits, saving his tyre allocation for Superpole two, as Leon Camier put himself on top with a 1'37.520 as the session wound down. Toprak Razgatlioglu then sneaked under Laverty's time by six hundredths of a second as Camier stretched his advantage by another tenth of a second with a 1'37.410.

Leon Camier and Toprak Razgatlioglu advanced to the second session where they would get a chance to improve their places while Eugene Laverty headed the fifth row alongside Jake Gagne and Jordi Torres.

Jonathan Rea was the first rider to record a lap time in the second session, and it was the quickest of the first laps, beating Xavi Fores, Tom Sykes and Alex Lowes with a 1'36.726. Rea pitted in after his quick lap as others stayed out for one more bite of the cherry. Tom Sykes got to just about within two tenths of a second of Rea before pitting in for quicker tyres. The factory Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri sat at the bottom of the pack in eleventh and twelfth on race tyres, over a second off Rea's pace.

Jonathan Rea took advantage of his early pit in to head out on the yellow-labelled rear tyre, recording a 1'35.843, breaking the qualifying record by half a second and popping a stand up wheelie down the straight before returning to his garage to watch everyone try to catch him.

As almost everyone's laps dropped away from being able to take the top spot, there was one rider out on track who still had red markers on their lap; Tom Sykes snatched pole position from his teammate with a bonkers 1'35.696. Lorenzo Savadori and Xavi Fores were the only other riders to get within a second of Tom Sykes, wit Savadori joining the Kawasakis on the front row and Xavi Fores heading the second row ahead of Alex Lowes and a resurgent Chaz Davies.

Qualifying Results:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Speed
1	66	T. SYKES	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'35.696		291,9
2	1	J. REA	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'35.843	0.147	292,7
3	32	L. SAVADORI	Aprilia RSV4 RF	1'36.564	0.868	288,8
4	12	X. FORES	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.613	0.917	275,5
5	22	A. LOWES	Yamaha YZF R1	1'36.765	1.069	282,7
6	7	C. DAVIES	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.954	1.258	293,5
7	21	M. RINALDI	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.999	1.303	285,0
8	76	L. BAZ	BMW S 1000 RR	1'37.055	1.359	292,7
9	54	T. RAZGATLIOGLU	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'37.103	1.407	294,3
10	60	M. VAN DER MARK	Yamaha YZF R1	1'37.239	1.543	295,1
11	2	L. CAMIER	Honda CBR1000RR	1'37.398	1.702	295,1
12	33	M. MELANDRI	Ducati Panigale R	1'37.595	1.899	292,7
13	50	E. LAVERTY	Aprilia RSV4 RF	1'37.617	0.207	285,7
14	45	J. GAGNE	Honda CBR1000RR	1'37.747	0.337	285,0
15	81	J. TORRES	MV Agusta 1000 F4	1'38.129	0.719	290,3
16	36	L. MERCADO	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'38.176	0.766	293,5
17	99	P. JACOBSEN	Honda CBR1000RR	1'38.878	1.468	291,1
18	40	R. RAMOS	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'39.188	1.778	286,5
19	11	J. GUARNONI	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'39.490	2.080	279,1
20	96	J. SMRZ	Yamaha YZF R1	1'39.713	2.303	270,7
21	121	M. LUSSIANA	Aprilia RSV4 RF

Superpole One:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Speed
1	2	L. CAMIER	Honda CBR1000RR	1'37.410		295,9
2	54	T. RAZGATLIOGLU	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'37.557	0.147	292,7
3	50	E. LAVERTY	Aprilia RSV4 RF	1'37.617	0.207	285,7
4	45	J. GAGNE	Honda CBR1000RR	1'37.747	0.337	285,0
5	81	J. TORRES	MV Agusta 1000 F4	1'38.129	0.719	290,3
6	36	L. MERCADO	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'38.176	0.766	293,5
7	99	P. JACOBSEN	Honda CBR1000RR	1'38.878	1.468	291,1
8	40	R. RAMOS	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'39.188	1.778	286,5
9	11	J. GUARNONI	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'39.490	2.080	279,1
10	96	J. SMRZ	Yamaha YZF R1	1'39.713	2.303	270,7

Superpole Two:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Speed
1	66	T. SYKES	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'35.696		291,9
2	1	J. REA	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'35.843	0.147	292,7
3	32	L. SAVADORI	Aprilia RSV4 RF	1'36.564	0.868	288,8
4	12	X. FORES	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.613	0.917	275,5
5	22	A. LOWES	Yamaha YZF R1	1'36.765	1.069	282,7
6	7	C. DAVIES	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.954	1.258	293,5
7	21	M. RINALDI	Ducati Panigale R	1'36.999	1.303	285,0
8	76	L. BAZ	BMW S 1000 RR	1'37.055	1.359	292,7
9	54	T. RAZGATLIOGLU	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'37.103	1.407	294,3
10	60	M. VAN DER MARK	Yamaha YZF R1	1'37.239	1.543	295,1
11	2	L. CAMIER	Honda CBR1000RR	1'37.398	1.702	295,1
12	33	M. MELANDRI	Ducati Panigale R	1'37.595	1.899	292,7