Superbike: Sylvain Guintoli is the first poleman of Sepang

The first Sepang Superpole was signed by Aprilia: with a perfect lap, Sylvain Guintoli set the best time and will start tomorrow, for the fourth time in his career, in front of everyone.

Marco Melandri (in the photo), more comfortable with the race tyre, was unable to be as incisive with the qualifying tyre, but still grabbed the second row with the fifth best time.

The beautiful Aprilia day was completed by the second row conquered by Toni Elias' RSV4 "satellite".

Guintoli entered the track at the start of the session on race tyre, setting an already impressive time of 2'03.581 and immediately taking the lead.
Returning to the pits to fit the qualifying tyre, Sylvain further improved his performance by stopping the clock at 2'03.002.
The speed shown in Superpole aligns with what was expressed in the test sessions: on three out of four occasions, the French driver was the fastest on the track.

Fast in all the sessions, Marco Melandri also aspired to a place on the front row, but the lack of feeling with the qualifying tire and some changes that did not give the desired results prevented him from being incisive in the Superpole too.
However, the fifth fastest time is a decidedly positive result and the pace bodes well for tomorrow's races.

“A weekend that so far has been almost perfect, even if tomorrow's results are the ones that really count. I trained well, preparing for the hot weather, and I actually feel better with the race tire than I have for a long time" - he declared Sylvain Guintoli– “I'm happy, the RSV4 is performing really well here, we can make the most of it. I enjoy driving, tomorrow there will certainly be two very tough races but I can't wait to get on track."

“It was a difficult qualifying, we tried to continue to improve stability and grip on the rear but in the end I struggled too much with the front” - he said Marco Melandri– “I wasn't effective with the qualifying tyre, finishing fifth in these conditions gives me hope for tomorrow. We need to still be able to gain something, they will be complicated races both for the tires and for the riders."