Donington Park WorldSBK: Jonathan Rea claims pole with new lap record as Alvaro Bautista crashes

Keen to follow the eventual polesitter, Scott Redding hopped onto the rear of the Kawasaki rider’s wheel to begin Superpole.

And it paid off as Redding narrowly pipped Rea to top spot before Alex Lowes went fastest by nearly half a second.

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Tom Sykes put in a stunning lap to go P3 ahead of Razgatlioglu, before that became P4 when Bautista jumped up to P3. 

Rea improved on his second lap but it wasn’t enough to move him into the top five. Those who completed a second flying lap including Bautista failed to improve, while the likes of Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli returned to pit lane. 

Following a quick tyre change, the factory Yamaha duo exited pit lane as another Yamaha rider in Bradley Ray used his extensive track knowledge around Donington Park to challenge Lowes’ top time through the first two sectors. Ray’s lap ultimately faded as he came across the line in 13th.  

Razgatlioglu then set the fastest lap of the weekend as he went close to three tenths clear of Lowes, who responded by going +0.012s off the 2021 world champion.

A difficult weekend for Michael Ruben Rinaldi continued as he crashed at the final corner. 

The Italian was able to get his bike restarted before making a swift return to pit lane. 

A new lap record was then set by Rea who put three tenths between himself and Razgatlioglu, while Bautista moved up to second, one spot ahead of Danilo Petrucci. 

While Rea abandoned his next lap Bautista and Petrucci continued on as they set red sector in the opening part of the lap.

Keeping his impressive lap going, Bautista was on course for pole before crashing at turn eight.

The world champion ran into the gravel before coming to a slow fall when trying to remain upright.