After his setting a new lap record in this morning's final practice session, all eyes were on Toprak Razgatlioglu for World Superbike's Superpole qualifying. Tati Mercado and Hayden Gillim sat in for Adam Norrodin and Taz Mackenzie after crashes from the MIE duo at Donington.
Toprak Razgatlioglu set a 1'30.340 all time lap record on his first out last. Jonathan Rea and Michael van der Mark both crashed out in their own crashes but their respective yellow flags were behind Razgatlioglu. Andrea Iannone and Alvaro Bautista were deposed by second-quickest Nicolo Bulega, six tenths off the new lap record. Bautista apologised to Danilo Petrucci after hampering his performance.
After the mid-session tea break, and the yellow flag laps were deleted without affecting the results, Razgatlioglu and Iannone slowed each other up and Razgatlioglu saved a corner exit slide at turn one, but as the harder qualifying tyres required at Most have more than one lap in them, they resumed at a high pace for their second laps.
Razgatliolgu was on lap record place in the first two sectors and, after a slow third sector, he posted a 1'30.064 lap record with Iannone behind him taking second place. Alex Lowes also improved to go third quickest on his fresh tyre, and with under a minute left, Bulega let a quick lap get away from him leaving the front row unchanged before the flag and Bulega and Rea were the only riders hoping to improve as the flag came out. Bulega promoted himself to fourth place and Rea ended the session in fifteenth place.
Toprak Razgatlioglu surprised nobody by taking pole position, two thirds of a second ahead of Andrea Iannone and Alex Lowes. Nicolo Bulega headed the second row alongside Remy Gardner and Danilo Petrucci. Alvaro Bautista languished in seventh place, almost a second off pole, with Garrett Gerloff and Andrea Locatelli rounding out the third row.
Andrea Iannone thanked Razgatlioglu and BMW for a tow to second place as Razgatlioglu was mildly disappointed on missing out on a 1'29, in spite of setting a new lap record. Nicolo Bulega was off the front row for the first time in his rookie year.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
| 1 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | BMW M 1000 RR | 1'30.064 | 299,2 | |
| 2 | 29 | A. IANNONE | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'30.729 | 0.665 | 300,0 |
| 3 | 22 | A. LOWES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'30.758 | 0.694 | 293,6 |
| 4 | 11 | N. BULEGA | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'30.857 | 0.793 | 296,8 |
| 5 | 87 | R. GARDNER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'30.889 | 0.825 | 291,2 |
| 6 | 9 | D. PETRUCCI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'30.997 | 0.933 | 299,2 |
| 7 | 1 | A. BAUTISTA | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'31.017 | 0.953 | 302,5 |
| 8 | 31 | G. GERLOFF | BMW M 1000 RR | 1'31.082 | 1.018 | 300,0 |
| 9 | 55 | A. LOCATELLI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'31.110 | 1.046 | 296,8 |
| 10 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'31.170 | 1.106 | 299,2 |
| 11 | 45 | S. REDDING | BMW M 1000 RR | 1'31.229 | 1.165 | 300,0 |
| 12 | 14 | S. LOWES | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1'31.345 | 1.281 | 295,2 |
| 13 | 7 | I. LECUONA | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 1'31.390 | 1.326 | 299,2 |
| 14 | 97 | X. VIERGE | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 1'31.465 | 1.401 | 300,0 |
| 15 | 65 | J. REA | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'31.467 | 1.403 | 292,8 |
| 16 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | BMW M 1000 RR | 1'31.493 | 1.429 | 299,2 |
| 17 | 77 | D. AEGERTER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'31.533 | 1.469 | 295,2 |
| 18 | 47 | A. BASSANI | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'31.618 | 1.554 | 296,0 |
| 19 | 53 | T. RABAT | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'32.113 | 2.049 | 296,0 |
| 20 | 5 | P. OETTL | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'32.123 | 2.059 | 291,2 |
| 21 | 28 | B. RAY | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'32.216 | 2.152 | 295,2 |
| 22 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 1'32.961 | 2.897 | 293,6 |
| 23 | 79 | H. GILLIM | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 1'33.756 | 3.692 | 293,6 |
Comments
van der Mark
I'm a fan of Mikey but atm he doesn't deserve his seat.
In reply to van der Mark by Tombu
vdM
His job isn't to win races.
In reply to van der Mark by Tombu
Petrucci voiced the opinion…
Petrucci voiced the opinion that van der Mark was re-signed to ensure that BMW continues to receive super concessions. That would be an interesting angle, huh?
Prior to this season, BMW won only one WSBK race in the last decade (with VDM) and have finished at or near the bottom of the constructor's standings nearly every year (middling results in 2016). The last time BMW was competitive was in 2013 with Melandri and Davies, yet Toprak currently has twice as many wins as their season totals combined. In my mind, Razgatlioglu's recent performances continue to beg the questions: What could he do in Motogp? Missed opportunity by Yamaha? How quickly (and well) would he adapt to the rear-biased Michelins? Maybe BMW is getting primed for 2027.