Superpole Phillip Island: ” Super ” Sykes on pole

Tom Sykes and his new Kawasaki signed the first Superpole of the 2016 season in Australia, breaking Guintoli’s record in the process. But the Ninja n ° 66 will have a lot to do to turn the test into a race, in a few minutes… The new WSBK format is like this: it is only two hours after the Superpole that the first is now held …

Tom Sykes and his new Kawasaki signed the first Superpole of the 2016 season in Australia, breaking Guintoli’s record in the process. But the Ninja n ° 66 will have a lot to do to turn the test into a race, in a few minutes…

The new WSBK format is like this: it is only two hours after the Superpole that the first Superbike race is now held! No more time to bubble up, or rather to perfect the settings of the bike between the sprint and the cross-country race.

Another slight change in 2016: at the end of the second free practice session on Friday, the ten drivers at the top of the list are automatically qualified for the final phase of the Superpole (SP2) while all of their comrades participate at Superpole 1.

Authors of the two best times of this SP1 at Phillip Island this afternoon – last night for the French -, Alex Lowes (Yamaha Pata Crescent) and Jordi Torres (BMW Althea) were able to join the best riders on the grid: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team ), Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha Pata Crescent) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), the three active WSBK champions…

The first driver to complete a lap of the Phillip Island circuit in Superpole 2, the world “Number One” is successively replaced by Guintoli then Giugliano at the head of the times. On the second official R1, Lowes even ejects the ruthless "JR" from the front row !

Five minutes from the end – as a reminder, SP2 lasts a quarter of an hour – the drivers return to the pits to put on the qualifying tires, recognizable by the yellow “Pirelli” markings. Times should melt and the standings could change a lot…

And that’s the case: ahead on hard tires by these main rivals, Tom "Superpole" Sykes beats by 18 thousandths of a second (!) The track record held since 2014 by our dear "Guinters". That year, Sylvain would run on the official Aprilia and after his first world title…

Always so swift on one lap, Davide Giugliano (Ducati Aruba.it) takes second place on the Australian grid. As for "Super" Sykes, the hardest part remains for the Italian n ° 34: to transform this excellent test into a race..

Jonathan Rea, on the contrary, can rejoice: often more efficient at the end of the race than in qualifying, he completes the first place, which will make his job easier. Winner of the first race of the 2015 season, "Johnny" naturally hopes to do the same this year….

For the record, in 28 seasons, the driver who won the first race in WSBK has won the title 15 times … And each time, the future champion was at least in the Top 5 of the first round. These are statistics that may motivate the troops !

At the head of qualifying on Friday night, Sylvain Guintoli posted his official Yamaha at the head of the second Australian row. No.50 is ahead of his new teammate at No.22 and his former teammate who stayed at Honda: Michael van den Mark !

The second Fireblade piloted by Nicky Hayden dominates the third row. 2006 MotoGP champion beats 2015 Superstock 1000 champion Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia IodaRacing) and 2015 WSBK runner-up Chaz Davies (Ducati Aruba).

Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) completed the Top 10 of these qualifications and the rookie Markus Reiterberger also performed well by qualifying in 11th place. Small disappointment on the other hand for Jordi Torres who damaged his elbow on Friday: the "Spanish Elvis" is only 12th on his own S1000RR.

Finally, let us point out the satisfactory 15th place of our second representative in World Superbike: Sylvain Barrier (Kawasaki Pedercini) who has driven too little this winter and continues his training aboard the new Kawasaki. Will "Syl’20" be rewarded with a few points in the first round. Answer in a few minutes: stay connected !

Superpole World Superbike Phillip Island 2016

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