WSBK Turkey: Sykes slams a super pole in Istanbul !

Tom Sykes won his seventh pole position of the 2013 WSBK season on the Turkish track in Istanbul Park in 1’54.872. A performance all the more breathtaking as the official Kawasaki discovered this new circuit, unlike some of his toughest opponents such as Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri who will start from the second …

Tom Sykes won his seventh pole position of the 2013 WSBK season on the Turkish track in Istanbul Park in 1’54.872. A performance all the more breathtaking as the official Kawasaki discovers this new circuit, unlike some of his toughest opponents such as Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri who will start from second and seventh positions..

"Mister Superpole" has struck again: despite the fact that he did not know the Istanbul Park circuit – which the WSBK is going to for the first time – and that bad weather conditions spoiled the last tests on Saturday, Tom Sykes immediately made his mark in the Superpole.

The fastest driver during the first Superpole session, Sykes transformed the test during the third and last qualifying session: the Kawasaki official completed the 5.340 km of the Turkish track 0.022 sec faster than Sylvain Guintoli !

A tiny gap certainly, but which deserves immense respect insofar as "Syl" – who largely dominated Friday – knew the track having raced there in Grand Prix! The two men will start tomorrow in front of the private RSV4s of Davide Giugliano and Eugene Laverty. For her first qualification with sound, Toni Elias climbs to a remarkable fifth place ahead of Jules Cluzel, Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.

Note that this is the 18th pole for Tom Sykes, only three less than Cal Forgarty: sorry! His teammate, Loris Baz, is unfortunately forfeited following his injuries contracted during the last race in Germany: the pilot of the second official ZX-10R was not authorized to participate in the eleventh round of the 2013 season in due to the back injuries he has suffered since his fall at the Nurburgring.

Besides that of the sympathetic "Baz-ooka", let us point out the absence on the grid of Leon Camier, who fractured his right foot from the first tests (read). Courageously, the Suzuki rider returned to the circuit immediately after having undergone surgery to follow the rest of the weekend from his box. His absence could last until the test of Jerez…

Carlos Checa and Max Neurkirchner are also forfeited, after respectively fracturing their wrist and left ankle on Friday morning. Finally, "Toro" Checa teammate Ayrton Badovini also crashed on Friday and suffered an ankle injury. A real hecatomb !

Supersport: Sofuoglu at home

Kenan Sofuoglu took his Kawasaki ZX-6R to pole position in Istanbul Park to the delight of his audience. The Turkish driver – who has never raced on this circuit – clearly dominated the championship leader, Sam Lowes, to whom he stuck 0.382 sec.

Frenchman Florian Marino was blown away last place on the front row by Christian Iddon’s MV Agusta, while his compatriot Fabien Foret fell four minutes from the end of the session along with Italian Fabio Menghi. Recorded unharmed, the two men qualified eleventh and nineteenth respectively.

Starting grid of the WSBK in Istanbul Park

1. Tom Sykes Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’54.872
2. Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’54.894
3. Davide Giugliano Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’55.073
4. Eugene Laverty Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’55.340
5. Toni Elias Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’55.546
6. Jules Cluzel Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’55.614
7. Marco Melandri BMW S1000 RR 1’56.402
8. Chaz Davies BMW S1000 RR 1’56.416
9. Leon Haslam Honda CBR1000RR 1’56.463
10. Mark Aitchison Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’57.001
11. Federico Sandi Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’57.329
12. Michel Fabrizio Honda CBR1000RR 1’57.371
13. Tolga Uprak Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’02.469
14. Yunus Ercelik BMW S1000 RR 2’04.070
15. Vittorio Iannuzzo BMW S1000 RR 2’39.610

Alex

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