The grid for the first WorldSBK Championship race at Portimao has been completely overhauled after six riders who had times deleted due to a yellow flag had their laps reinstated following an appeal to stewards.
With multiple riders - including WorldSBK Championship leader Alvaro Bautista - arguing they hadn't seen either a yellow flag being deployed or Nozane's errant Yamaha well off course, an investigation by stewards revealed it had been waved at a point unsighted by the riders.
As such, all six riders had their lap times reinstated to shake up the grid for both Race 1 and the Superpole Race up, even if the incident has no bearing on a static front row of Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes.
However, there are implications for the title race with Bautista being lifted from ninth back to fourth. Another big beneficiary was Axel Bassani, who catapulted from 14th to sixth, while Scott Redding in got his quicker lap time back but remains eighth, Michael Ruben Rinaldi lifts from 11th to ninth, Philipp Oettl remains 12th, Lucas Mahias remains 15th and Luca Bernardi ascends to 19th
Those to lose out were Loris Baz (7th), Iker Lecuona (10th) and Garrett Gerloff (11th) having been placed fifth, sixth and seventh before the modifications.
2022 WorldSBK Championship | Portimao, Portugal | Superpole Qualifying Results
| 2022 WorldSBK Championship | Portimao, Portugal | Superpole Qualifying Results | Round 9 / 12 | |||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | WorldSBK Team | Superbike | Timing |
| 1 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m 39.610 |
| 2 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 1m 39.772 |
| 3 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m 39.859 |
| 4 | Alvaro Bautista | ESP | Aruba Racing Ducati | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1m 39.946 |
| 5 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha R1 | 1m 40.000 |
| 6 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Racing | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1m 40.195 |
| 7 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | BMW M 1000 RR | 1m 40.242 |
| 8 | Scott Redding | GBR | BMW Motorrad | BMW M 1000 RR | 1m 40.293 |
| 9 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba Racing Ducati | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1m 40.305 |
| 10 | Iker Lecuona | ESP | Team HRC | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 1m 40.342 |
| 11 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha Team | Yamaha R1 | 1m 40.497 |
| 12 | Philipp Oettl | ESP | Team GoEleven | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1m 40.526 |
| 13 | Xavi Vierge | ESP | Team HRC | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 1m 40.624 |
| 14 | Roberto Tamburini | ITA | Motoxracing Team | Yamaha R1 | 1m 40.771 |
| 15 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m 40.811 |
| 16 | Jake Gagne | USA | Attack Performance Racing | Yamaha R1 | 1m 41.161 |
| 17 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | Bonovo Action BMW | BMW M 1000 RR | 1m 41.258 |
| 18 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha Team | Yamaha R1 | 1m 41.321 |
| 19 | Luca Bernardi | SMR | Barni Spark Racing | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1m 41.406 |
| 20 | Michael van der Mark | NED | BMW Motorrad | BMW M 1000 RR | 1m 41.473 |
| 21 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | MIE Racing Team | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 1m 41.741 |
| 22 | Leon Haslam | GBR | TPR Pedercini Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m 41.765 |
| 23 | Marvin Fritz | AUT | iXS YART | Yamaha R1 | 1m 41.912 |
| 24 | Leandro Mercado | ARG | MIE Racing Team | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 1m 41.982 |
| 25 | Christophe Ponsson | FRA | Gil Motor Sport | Yamaha R1 | 1m 42.152 |
| 26 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac VerdNatura | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m 43.840 |
* Riders with lap times reinstated in BOLD
Superpole Qualifying Report [before reinstated lap times]
Jonathan Rea has secured his fifth pole position of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship at Portimao after getting the better of pre-qualifying favourite Toprak Razgatlioglu in Superpole, while series leader Alvaro Bautista was reinstated to fourth after successfully appealing a yellow flag infringement.
Coming into Round 9 of the season keen to end a victory drought that stretches back to WorldSBK’s last visit to Portugal in Estoril (Round 3), Rea assured himself the best possible chance of going for glory by getting the edge on Razgatlioglu by just over a tenth of a second.
Stopping the clock in a lap record smashing 1m 39.610, pole position will act as a confidence boosting result for the Kawasaki rider given his Turkish rival’s searing single lap pace in practice.
Indeed, the final European event of the season has been identified as a pivotal event, with both Razgatlioglu and Rea knowing they need to make headway into Bautista’s vast series lead this weekend having slipped a respective 59 and 67 points adrift of their Ducati rival.
The pair had originally received a fortuitous boost ahead of Race 1 when Bautista was one of several riders to get their final efforts cancelled due to yellow flags waving at Turn 1 for a crash involving GYTR GRT Yamaha’s Kohta Nozane.
With officials allowing the session to run to the flag before deleting the laps of those unfortunate to come through Turn 1 after Nozane had slipped off, Bautista had been classified fourth initially, before being dumped to 12th. Further revisions proceeded to lift him to ninth.
Back at the front, Alex Lowes notched up his second successive front row start to make it two Kawasaki ZX-10RRs at the head of the grid, the factory KRT pair sandwiching the Yamaha R1 of Razgatlioglu.
Andrea Locatelli benefited from Bautista’s relegation to lead row two, the Italian hoping to reverse a recent trend of lacklustre form to invigorate his fight for fourth in the overall standings, while Loris Baz scored his and Bonovo BMW’s best start of the year in fifth.
Iker Lecuona and Garrett Gerloff were two of the big winners from the yellow flag infringements as they elevated from 10th and 11th to sixth and seventh on the grid respectively, ahead of top BMW rider Scott Redding in eighth and the unlucky Bautista.
Indeed, the yellow flag issues were a disaster all round for the Ducati contingent with Bautista, factory team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Motocorsa’s Axel Bassani all forced to rely on their slower efforts earlier in the session, dropping the trio from fourth, sixth and seventh to ninth, 11th and 14th respectively.
Elsewhere, MotoAmerica champion Jake Gagne enjoyed a solid return to WorldSBK Superpole action on the Attack Performance Yamaha in 16th, while Leon Haslam - back on international duty with Pedercini Kawasaki - was 21st of the 26 runners.
