The last Superpole of the season goes to the archive and bears the signature of Toprak Razgatlioglu, who re-establishes the hierarchy in Mandalika and signs a stratospheric time. The leader of the world championship shatters the track record and is the only one to drop below 33, trimming three tenths to the first of his pursuers and direct rival in the standings, Jonathan Rea. The world fight is also renewed in qualifying, with the Turk winning his third Superpole of the year.
The Yamaha rider is confirmed in great shape and records a 1’32 “877, no one had ever managed to top the 32. Once again he is chasing Rea, who will start from the second box and will have to go hunting for the leader if he wants to keep the world championship fight open. . Closing the front row is Scott Redding, author of a solid Saturday so far: the Ducati rider, after having set the best time in FP3, confirms his form in qualifying and moves to third position, remaining very close to the group of the head.
Opening the second row is Garrett Gerloff, he too confirms to be effective, but he will have to reappear in the race to bring to fruition the good results seen so far. The American of the GRT team, however, accuses an already more important delay, remaining more than six-tenths and a half behind his teammate and poleman. Andrea Locatelli will start alongside the Texan, author of a weekend in progression. Seven are the tenths that separate the rider from Bergamo from his neighbor, but he manages to grab an excellent fifth time. Sixth place goes to Tom Sykes, who is the protagonist of a very good qualifying: the BMW rider, on his last weekend in Superbike, ends his Superpole in the second row.
Until now, Axel Bassani has also shown himself to be in good shape: constantly the second of the Ducati riders, the Motocorsa rider conquers the seventh box, thus opening the second row, which he shares with Alvaro Bautista and Michael van der Mark, eighth and ninth respectively. Closing the top 10 is Leandro Mercado, just a few tenths ahead of Chaz Davies, 11th in his last Superpole of his career. Definitely subdued qualification for Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s other Ducati, only 14th ahead of compatriot Samuele Cavalier, 15th.
Alvaro Bautista is the only HRC rider on the track: Leon Haslam was forced to stop due to pain following an arm surgery three weeks ago. This is how the British Superbike adventure ends. A bitter end of the season also for Alex Lowes, who crashed during FP3 and declared an unfit before the start of qualifying. This is how the Kawasaki rider ends his 2021, hoping to return to 100% in 2022.
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