The Aprilia rider on pole despite a late crash, Rea only 0.004s away in second.
Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) has taken the penultimate Tissot-Superpole of the 2015 season, the first fully wet qualifying of the year after the heavens opened at the Circuit Nevers de Magny-Cours shortly before Superpole 1 began. Despite ending the session in the gravel after crashing in the final moments of SP2, the Briton edged out the newly crowned World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) by 0.004s. This is the second pole position for Haslam this year and only the third of his long World Superbike career.
Joining Haslam and Rea on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 21-lap races will be, for the second consecutive round, Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing), after the wet conditions threw up some surprises at the front of the grid.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) and Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) all crashed, Lowes’ incident bringing out the red flags. The session restarted with two minutes and 46 seconds remaining meaning that it was a one lap shoot-out to decide the grid.
Row two will see Davies, Guintoli and Luca Scassa (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team), while a competitive Leon Camier heads up the third row that also comprises Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Tom Sykes. Scassa and Camier were the two riders who made their way through Superpole 1 and into the final session.
Tenth on the grid will be Markus Reiterberger (VanZon Rehema BMW), with Alex Lowes and Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) rounding out row the top 12.
WorldSBK Magny-Cours – Tissot-Superpole
1 – Leon Haslam Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 1’56.404
2 – Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team +0.004
3 – Niccolò Canepa Althea Racing Ducati +0.508
