Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes demolished the lap record on his way to pole position for this weekend’s two 20-lap races at Jerez, the Yorkshireman half a second clear of teammate Jonathan Rea.
Sykes ended Friday’s running on top and was only one thousandth of a second off the pace in this morning’s third free practice session. The Kawasaki rider flew under the radar for most of SP2, Sykes lying fifth on the time sheets as he began his qualifying tyre lap.
A flurry of red sectors flashed up on the timing screens, but no-one was even remotely close to the pace Sykes was setting. The Briton crossed the line to clock a 1m39.190s.
Championship leader Rea endured a tough Friday, problems with his Kawasaki’s electronics hindering his progress. He heads into this afternoon’s first race on the back foot but at least starts from the front row. With a 48-point advantage over Sykes in the standings, Rea just needs to keep his powder dry in race one and limit the damage caused by his teammate.
Davide Giugliano sensationally completed the top three on his first weekend back after suffering a shoulder injury in Germany. The Italian has just been easing himself back into the swing of things in practice, avoiding putting too much strain through his shoulder. He ended SP2 just three tenths away from Rea and beat Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes by three hundredths of a second.
Honda’s Nicky Hayden was a second off the pace in fifth, whilst Chaz Davies and Jordi Torres matched lap times in the closing stages of SP2. The Welshman’s second lap was quicker than Torres’, so it was Davies who was awarded the final spot on row two.
Xavie Fores will be disappointed to start down in eighth having shown good pace so far this weekend on the Barni Racing Ducati. He managed a 1m40.170s. Sylain Guintoli and Leon Camier completed the top 10, all riders from Sykes down to the MV Agusta rider lapping underneath the lap record.
Michael van der Mark was the first rider in SP2 to complete a lap on the qualifying tyres, but he was unable to do anything hugely impressive with it and will start from 11th. Ant West progressed through SP1 rather comfortably, but failed to improve on 12th in the second part of qualifying.
Markus Reiterberger missed out on a place in SP2 by three tenths of a second and will start both races from 13th on his Althea BMW. The German has Ioda’s Lorenzo Savadori and Roman Ramos for company on the fifth row.
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