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Qualifying report

Aragon WSBK: Melandri shades Rea by 0.031s for pole

Marco Melandri pinched World Superbike pole position away from Jonathan Rea by just 0.031 seconds at Aragon, while Ducati teammate Chaz Davies will start Saturday's race 11th after a late fall.

Marco Melandri, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team takes pole position

Marco Melandri, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team takes pole position

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marco Melandri, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team
Marco Melandri, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing, Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Xavi Fores, Barni Racing Team
Jordi Torres, MV Agusta Reparto Corse
Leon Camier, Honda WSBK Team

Rea set the benchmark on his Kawasaki on his first race tyre lap, a 1m50.075s, while KRT teammate Tom Sykes was only eighth after his opening efforts.

Davies also suffered a low-key start to qualifying, and was 11th as he started his qualifying tyre run. However, he was unable to lift himself up any further after crashing at Turn 2 with three minutes on the clock.

Just moments later, MV Agusta's Jordi Torres edged ahead of Rea's initial laptime with a 1m50.055s, though the Spaniard's time at the top of the timesheets did not last as Melandri streaked clear with a 1m49.543s.

Rea put the Italian under threat, but just missed out on a 1m49.574s, while Sykes – who crashed in FP4 this morning – completed the top three.

Xavi Fores guided his Barni Ducati to fourth, heading the Yamaha duo of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, who were split by just 0.010s.

Torres slipped to the head of row three in seventh at the chequered flag, with SP1 graduate Michael Ruben Rinaldi eighth for his WSBK debut.

Honda's Leon Camier was ninth, the Briton heading a trio of late crashers in Lorenzo Savadori, Davies and Russian wildcard Vladimir Leonov, who followed Rinaldi through SP1.

Jake Gagne came close to making it two Ten Kate Hondas in SP2 after going second quickest in the closing stages of SP1, but the American was shuffled out of the progression places by Rinaldi's final effort of 1m50.568s, and will start 13th ahead of Milwaukee Aprilia stand-in Davide Giugliano and Leandro Mercado.

Puccetti Kawasaki's Toprak Razgatlioglu was almost a second off of the pace of former European Superstock 1000 sparring partner Rinaldi in SP1, and will launch from 16th, with PJ Jacobsen and Roman Ramos joining him on row six.

Althea BMW's Loris Baz led the SP1 time when the field began their second runs, but the Frenchman was left stranded in 19th after a crash at Turn 2.

SP2 times:

Pos.#RiderBikeTimeGap
1 33 italy Marco Melandri  Ducati 1'49.543  
2 1 united_kingdom Jonathan Rea  Kawasaki 1'49.574 0.031
3 66 united_kingdom Tom Sykes  Kawasaki 1'49.644 0.101
4 12 spain Xavi Fores  Ducati 1'49.667 0.124
5 22 united_kingdom Alex Lowes  Yamaha 1'49.853 0.310
6 60 netherlands Michael van der Mark  Yamaha 1'49.863 0.320
7 81 spain Jordi Torres  MV Agusta 1'50.055 0.512
8 21 italy  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  Ducati 1'50.197 0.654
9 2 united_kingdom Leon Camier  Honda 1'50.607 1.064
10 32 italy Lorenzo Savadori  Aprilia 1'50.809 1.266
11 7 united_kingdom Chaz Davies  Ducati 1'51.065 1.522
12 5 russia Vladimir Leonov  Kawasaki 1'53.033 3.490

SP1 times:

Pos.#RiderBikeTimeGap
SP2 21 italy  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  Ducati 1'50.568  
SP2 5 russia Vladimir Leonov  Kawasaki 1'51.294 0.726
13 45 united_states Jake Gagne  Honda 1'51.609 1.041
14 34 italy Davide Giugliano  Aprilia 1'51.632 1.064
15 36 argentina Leandro Mercado  Kawasaki 1'51.718 1.150
16 54 turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu  Kawasaki 1'51.777 1.209
17 99 united_states Patrick Jacobsen  Honda 1'51.832 1.264
18 40 spain Roman Ramos  Kawasaki 1'51.845 1.277
19 76 france Loris Baz  BMW 1'51.867 1.299
20 68 colombia Yonny Hernandez  Kawasaki 1'51.961 1.393
21 37 czech_republic Ondrej Jezek  Yamaha 1'53.349 2.781

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