After a tough start to the season, Jonathan Rea is back to his best results in the World Superbike Championship. This Saturday in Assen, he secured his first pole position with the Pata Prometeon Yamaha.
The Superpole was contested in rainy conditions. Throughout the 15-minute session, the experienced British rider was constantly in the lead. He was overtaken four times – three times by Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) and once by Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW).
However, about five minutes from the checkered flag, Rea set a time that no one could beat – 1m42.650s. With that, he was only 94 milliseconds faster than Bulega, who did not improve until the end. Razgatlioglu finished third, 0.353s behind, followed by the brothers Sam (Elf Marc VDS/Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki).
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha) closes the second row of the grid for the first race and for the Superpole race, while Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) was less competitive in the rain and could only manage seventh place.
Results: