Photo from TV capture
While the championship battle rages between Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli, it was Ducati’s Davide Giugliano stealing the spotlight on Saturday by putting his factory Ducati Panigale 1199R on the pole for Sunday’s season-ending World Superbike races at Losail Intl. Circuit in Qatar.
The loose-riding Giugliano turned in a blistering lap of 1:57.003 late the SP2 session to end the session on top to score his third-career WSBK pole.
With Marco Melandri having to run in Superpole 1 for the first time, some conspiracy theorist have implied that Aprilia may have detuned his machine a bit, to keep him from screwing up his teammate Sylvain Guintoli’s chances of winning the world championship, as he might have done at Magny-Cours when he ignored team orders to allow Guintoli by in the second race, having done so in the first race.
Geoff May and EBR made it through to Superpole for the first time, a major accomplishment for the team and a good representation of our far they’ve come this season. May was unable to make it through to SP2, but it’s certain they were happy to be part of the show on Saturday.
SP1 actually ended with a red flag after a spectacular crash by BMW rider Sylvain Barrier. Barrier was able to walk away from the wicked high side.
The battle for Superpole, as usual, came down to the final couple laps of the session. Riders had to dodge some obstacles with about a minute to go when Jonathan Rea crashed out, losing the front end and never losing his grip on the handlebars, then fellow Brit Alex Lowes also fell in the closing seconds.
World Championship leader Sykes said he had a solid lap going when he came upon the dust and debris of Lowes’ crash, effectively narrowing the racing line and ruining Sykes’ run.
For Giugliano he was happy to give Ducati the pole at the first nighttime World Superbike event.
“I’m very happy for this result, the first row” said the Italian in broken English. “But it is more important to be consistent for tomorrow. For this moment it is a hard weekend, but I am happy for this result and for my team and I think for tomorrow.”
World Superbike Superpole 2 Qualifying from Qatar – Nov. 1, 2014
1 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’57.033
2 76 L. BAZ FRA Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’57.281
3 1 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’57.468
4 7 C. DAVIES GBR Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’57.562
5 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’57.833
6 91 L. HASLAM GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’58.005
7 65 J. REA GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’58.190
8 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’58.355
9 58 E. LAVERTY IRL Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’58.379
10 24 T. ELIAS ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’58.583
11 22 A. LOWES GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’58.919
12 44 D. SALOM ESP Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’59.015
