Tom Sykes Claims Pole Position At Catalunya.

The World Superbike Championship is at the Barcelona Circuit of Catalunya for Round Nine of the Championship. PATA Yamaha With BRIXX WorldSBK rider Toprak Razgatatlioglu is leading the championship, with just seven points between Toprak and second place rider reigning World Champion Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea, Britain’s Scott Redding is in third place in the standings, the Brit will need three wins this weekend to secure his place in the Title hunt.

There are two new riders on the World Superbike grid this weekend, Barni Racing Team have replaced Tito Rabat with Samuele Cavalieri and Australian rider Lachlan Epis is debuting for the Outdo TPR Team Pedercini Racing.

Superpole got under-way under dry conditions, Jonathan Rea was first out on track, followed by the Honda riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam. Rea went back into the pits without setting a lap time, he came back out with team-mate Alex Lowes.

With under ten minutes to go BMW’s Tom Sykes was in first place, followed by Toprak and Ducati’s Scott Redding in third place. Rea got into second place with five minutes to go, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team’s Garrett Gerloff was in fifth place. Haslam was on a fast lap but it was cancelled due to exceeding track limits.

With two minutes to go it was all to play for, for the grid positions for today’s Race One and tomorrow’s Sprint Race. At the checkered flag it was BMW Motorrad’s Tom Sykes who put his BMW M 1000 RR Motorcycle in Pole Position, this was Tom’s first Pole of the 2021 season and his 51st career Pole Position. Toprak qualified in second, with Rea in third place, Redding in fourth, Lowes in fifth, Gerloff rounded out the top ten in tenth place.

Can Tom Sykes convert his first Pole Position of the season into a first win? Race One is at 14:15 today.

Featured Images: WorldSBK.com.