WorldSBK Misano | Rea turns it on when it matters to claim 2021 pole hat-trick

Jonathan Rea continued to ratchet up the pressure on his WorldSBK Championship rivals by once again going against the grain by saving his very best for Superpole at Misano, denying what was expected to be a Ducati pole.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi came into Superpole the favourite to claim his maiden WorldSBK pole position having topped FP2 and this morning's FP3 but with the Italian buckling under pressure to end up in fourth, the way was cleared for Rea to maintain his 100% pole position record in 2021 aboard the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

He was pushed harder around the Adriatic circuit than he was at Aragon and Estoril though with Toprak Razgatlioglu just missing out on usurping him by a mere tenth of a second.

Scott Redding starts third to set up a potential repeat showdown form the trio's epic battles in Portugal two weeks' ago, while the in-form Rinaldi cannot be discounted either following some rocket starts off the line in recent races

Tom Sykes lifted his BMW into a noteworthy fifth fastest from Alex Lowes on the second of the Kawasakis in sixth position, only just ahead of the firm's satellite representative in Lucas Mahias on the Puccetti Kawasaki, the Frenchman impressing in qualifying again to snatch seventh ahead of another eye-catching privateer in Axel Bassani, who will start on the front three rows of a WorldSBK race for the first time this afternoon.

This places them ahead of factory riders Alvaro Bautista in ninth on the Honda, Yamaha's Andrea Locatelli (eleventh) and BMW's Michael van der Mark in 13th.

Elsewhere, Garrett Gerloff - who was due to start from the pit-lane as a consequence of his clash with Rinaldi in Estoril - crashed on his first lap and failed to set a time anyway, while Eugene Laverty didn't take part after a heavy crash in FP3.

2021 WorldSBK Misano | Superpole Qualifying Results