The current World Superbike Champion, the Turkish Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) has signed the ‘pole’ of the first test World Championship 2022 which takes place this weekend MotorLand Aragon and has done so with a new record.
The Ottoman pilot has surpassed the Spanish Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati) by just six thousandths in one of the tightest margins between the top two riders on the grid in Superbike history, while the Briton Jonathan Rhea (Kawasaki Racing Team) will complete the front row after posting the third fastest time.
Alvaro Bautista He led the times in the first few minutes, but in the final moments of the 15-minute session, the current World Champion snatched pole position from the Spaniard with a new lap record (1’48.267) which gave the Turkish the fifth pole of his career and the first for Yamaha in the first qualifying session since Ben Spies’ debut in 2009 at Phillip Island.
The return of Baptist Ducati has allowed him to score his first row since the Barcelona Superpole in 2020, while Jonathan Rhea has signed the third fastest time to place three manufacturers in the top three.
The winner of the MotorLand Aragón 2020 race, Michael Rubén Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati), was fourth, his best Superpole result since Assen last year.
alex lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) have had a good start to the season with fifth place in qualifying and will start on the second row for the second consecutive year in Aragón, while andrea locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) was sixth.
The Spanish Iker Lecuona, rookie with Honda (Team HRC), is putting together very remarkable performances. The Valencian has set the seventh fastest time of the session and will lead the third row, equaling the team’s best result in the Aragon Superpole in 2021.
At his side will start another of the riders who have surprised in the session, Illia Mykhalchyk (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who finished as the best of BMW replacing the injured Michael van der Mark.
The 25-year-old Ukrainian was eighth ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and loris baz (Bonovo Action BMW), which was tenth.
Some Championship figures have been left out of the ‘top 10’, with Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in eleventh place ahead of the German rookie Philipp Oettlwhile the Spanish Xavi Verge (Team HRC) will start from thirteenth position ahead of Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) and Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing), fourteenth.
Another notable pilot, scott redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) could not get past sixteenth place.
Superpole Aragon:
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) 1’48.267
2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati) +0.006
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.209
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati) +0.488
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.719
6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) +0.731