The Superpole 2 action at the Pirelli Aragón Round saw Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secure a pole position start for Race 1, courtesy of a 1’49.319 best lap. The Welsh rider is joined on the front row by Jonathan Rea and the World Champion’s Kawasaki Racing Team colleague Tom Sykes.
As the riders ran with a new Pirelli qualifying tyre in the final minutes of the session at the MotorLand Aragon circuit Davies outpaced his rivals, with Rea qualifying +0.031s behind the Ducati man, followed by Sykes who was +0.173s off P1.
Italian rider Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) heads row two, in front of two Spaniards Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) and Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team). Row three, meanwhile, is to comprise Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia).
Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) came through as the leader of Tissot Superpole 1 to qualify tenth.
Five minutes into the Tissot Superpole 2 shootout Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) pulled off track due to a technical problem with his Yamaha YZF R1, effectively ending his session as he qualified 12th. Later it was Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) who was another victim of technical issues as his Honda CBR1000RR came to a sudden halt, leaving him 11th on the grid.
Hayden had earlier topped the Tissot Superpole 1 timesheet with a 1’50.945s lap time – and his teammate Bradl had also made it through to Superpole 2 from the first session.
Crashes in close succession for Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Ondrej Jezek (Grillini Racing Team) and Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team) towards the end of Tissot Superpole 1 saw them all slide out of contention and unable to challenge for Superpole 2 positions.