Jonathan Rea claims pole position at Donington Park

Jonathan Rea secured a pole position in front of his home crowd at the 2023 Donington Park World Superbike round, setting a new lap record.

Joining him on the front row for the afternoon's race will be Alvaro Bautista, despite a fall, and a thrilled Danilo Petrucci.

Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was blocked during his final run, will start on the second row alongside Alex Lowes and Dominique Aegerter.

Despite wet conditions during the practice sessions, the 15-minute qualifying shootout took place on a dry but cloudy track, with the possibility of rain at any moment.

Riders were already lining up at the pitlane exit when the green flags were waved. Lowes held the pole position halfway through the session, while Rea was only in sixth place.

Last year's triple winner, Razgatlioglu, then took the top spot for Yamaha with just over five minutes remaining. However, Rea reclaimed the lead and set a new lap record with three minutes left on the clock.

A couple of incidents occurred in the closing stages of qualifying. Michael Rinaldi slid off his Aruba.it Ducati at the final corner, resulting in yellow flags. This incident also affected Tom Sykes, and shortly after, rival Axel Bassani made a similar mistake.

Bautista's hopes for pole position ended when he ran wide and fell into the gravel at Coppice in the final minutes of the session.

2023 WORLD SUPERBIKE, DONINGTON PARK – SUPERPOLE

1 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:26.041s
2 Alvaro Bautista ESP Aruba.it - Ducati +0.068s
3 Danilo Petrucci ITA Barni Spark Racing Team +0.164s
4 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha Prometeon +0.369s
5 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.381s
6 Dominique Aegerter SUI GYTR GRT Yamaha Team +0.461s
7 Andrea Locatelli ITA Pata Yamaha Prometeon +0.469s
8 Tom Sykes GBR ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team +0.483s
9 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it - Ducati +0.523s
10 Garrett Gerloff USA Bonovo Action BMW +0.607s
11 Philipp Oettl GER GoEleven Ducati +0.688s
12 Scott Redding GBR ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team +0.701s
13 Iker Lecuona ESP Team HRC +1.149s
14 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +1.217s
15 Loris Baz FRA Bonovo Action BMW +1.264s
16 Bradley Ray GBR Yamaha Motoxracing Team +1.459s
17 Xavi Vierge ESP Team HRC +1.538s
18 Remy Gardner AUS GYTR GRT Yamaha Team +1.567s
19 Tito Rabat ESP Kawasaki Puccetti +2.055s
20 Hafizh Syahrin MAS PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team +2.403s
21 Isaac Vinales ESP Pedercini Racing +2.722s
22 Lorenzo Baldassarri ITA GMT94 Yamaha +2.750s
23 Eric Granado BRA PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team +3.818s