Superbike: Amazing Tissot-Superpole for Giugliano in Imola

A truly hard-fought and exciting Tissot-Superpole which has just concluded at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari racetrack in Imola, which has established the starting grid for the two races of the fifth round of the season, which will start tomorrow, 10 May, with Race 1 scheduled at 10am and Race 30 at 2pm.

The 10 drivers already qualified from the three free practices were joined by Michael van der Mark and Leon Camier from the first qualifying heat: surprisingly, the reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli was excluded.

After three months of forced stop Davide Giugliano doesn't keep his fans waiting and takes an amazing first place on the grid, keeping Tom Sykes behind him, with a crazy flying lap, by just 8 hundredths.
The Roman driver repeats the superpole he won here last year and looks to materialize his performances in tomorrow's race.
Satisfied and calm, given the very good race pace, the Kawasaki pair, with Jonathan Rea completing the front row ahead of Chaz Davies, fourth.
Panigale and Ninja have been the undisputed protagonists of the weekend so far, if it is true that from fifth place onwards the gaps increase significantly, with Leon Haslam, fifth, almost half a second behind Giugliano.

Sixth is the other RSV4 of Jordi Torres, who improves his approach with each outing on a track that is certainly not easy for rookies, ahead of the usually excellent Mercado.
Badovini was eighth, followed by Van der Mark and Salom to close the top ten.

Next appointment tomorrow morning with the Warm Up at 8am.

Below is the starting grid for tomorrow's two races:

1. Davide Giugliano ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 46.382s
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 46.466s
3. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 46.503s
4. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 46.627s
5. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 46.854s
6. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 1m 47.394s
7. Leandro Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R 1m 47.628s
8. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR 1m 48.147s
9. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 48.225s
10. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 48.524s
11. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 48.730s
12. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR Did not set time

Grid positions determined in SP1

13. Michel Fabrizio ITA Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 48.148s
14. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R 1m 48.174s
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR 1m 48.567s
16. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R1m 49.685s
17. Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 50.378s
18. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 51.398s
19. Christophe Ponsson FRA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 51.786s
20. Niccolo Canepa ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R Did not set time

Did not progress to Superpole

21. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 52.580s
22. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR 1m 53.813s