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Buriram WSBK: Dominant Bautista takes first pole

Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista claimed his first World Superbike pole in dominant fashion, beating Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea by over four tenths of a second in qualifying at Buriram.

Chaz Davies, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Chaz Davies, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bautista initially trailed early pace-setter Alex Lowes (Yamaha) in the 25-minute session, before bolting in a 1m32.718s flyer to move to the top of the timesheets.

He managed to shave off another tenth on his next lap, ending the first qualifying run comfortably quicker than the rest of the field.

The Spanish rider managed to find yet more time after returning to the track with 10 minutes to go, clocking a time of 1m31.912s to further extend his advantage.

Rea improved significantly in the final sector in an attempt to repeat his Phillip Island heroics, but fell 0.429s short of dislodging Bautista from pole position.

Lowes made a late improvement of his own to secure the final spot on the front row, while World Supersport graduate Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) impressed to qualify fourth in only his second WSBK weekend.

Leon Haslam was fifth quickest in the second of the factory Kawasakis, ahead of BMW’s Tom Sykes.

GRT Yamaha’s Marco Melandri and Team GoEleven rider Eugene Laverty were classified seventh and eighth respectively, while Chaz Davies qualified ninth, over a second down on his pole-sitting teammate.

The top 10 was completed by factory Yamaha rider Michael van der Mark.  

Qualifying results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati 1'31.912  
2 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea  Kawasaki 1'32.341 0.429
3 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes  Yamaha 1'32.440 0.528
4 11 Germany Sandro Cortese  Yamaha 1'32.608 0.696
5 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam  Kawasaki 1'32.688 0.776
6 66 United Kingdom Tom Sykes  BMW 1'32.909 0.997
7 33 Italy Marco Melandri  Yamaha 1'33.002 1.090
8 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty  Ducati 1'33.037 1.125
9 7 United Kingdom Chaz Davies  Ducati 1'33.196 1.284
10 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark  Yamaha 1'33.243 1.331
11 28 Germany Markus Reiterberger  BMW 1'33.257 1.345
12 2 United Kingdom Leon Camier  Honda 1'33.269 1.357
13 54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu  Kawasaki 1'33.466 1.554
14 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado  Kawasaki 1'33.529 1.617
15 81 Spain Jordi Torres  Kawasaki 1'33.535 1.623
16 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi  Ducati 1'33.651 1.739
17 23 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari  Honda 1'33.758 1.846
18 99 Thailand Thitipong Warokorn  Kawasaki 1'33.817 1.905
19 52 Alessandro Delbianco  Honda 1'35.596 3.684

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