A deluge hit the Silverstone circuit in England just before the final Superpole qualifying sessions for the World Superbike Championship grid were to begin, forcing organizers to call a “wet” Superpole made up of two 20-minute sessions rather than the usual three knockout sessions. With conditions being extremely tricky on the wet racetrack, numerous riders fell victim to the slick environment, but Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati’s Jakub Smrz managed to survive and take his second WSBK pole position of the season over FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier. Camier just missed out on his first WSBK pole by an agonizingly tiny gap of just 0.036 seconds, with new PATA Racing Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli (who was part of an acrimonious parting of ways with the Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati team at the Brno round; read our story on that situation here) coming in third a little more than half second behind. BMW’s Leon Haslam fills out the front row.
“It was a great performance in the wet,” said a happy Smrz about his World Superbike Superpole triumph at Silverstone. “As Leon said the conditions were really difficult, the rain was changing at every moment on every part of the track, but I was trying to improve lap by lap and then on the last lap I tried my best and it was enough for first place. We are used to these conditions this year, so we must be ready for everything tomorrow.”
“It was definitely better than where I normally qualify, so that’s good!” bemused Camier about his second spot on the Silverstone grid after Superpole. The FIXI Crescent Suzuki team has struggled to get the GSX-R on terms with the World Superbike field. “Massive thanks to the boys, it’s been a hard year for us but finally everything is paying off and this weekend we’ve been strong. There were some tricky conditions for qualifying but I managed to get a good rhythm and keep improving. I thought I had pole and I did until Kuba came past on the last lap!”
Guintoli was elated to get a positive start to his new season with the PATA Ducati squad. “I’m really happy because it’s not easy when you’re put in a new situation like this one. From the start of the weekend me and the team have got on really well, we’ve been tweaking stuff like in winter testing! I’m having fun with Pata and I’ve found a good home with which to finish the season. Obviously this is the first step, but there’s plenty more performance to come.”
Althea Racing Ducati’s Carlos Checa managed to qualify in seventh spot after crashing in the second Superpole session at Silverstone, as did Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes, who finds himself in the unfamiliar 8th spot on the grid after consistently qualifying no worse than third for the entire season. Checa’s teammate Davide Giugliano looked as if he might put himself on pole on his quick lap, but the Italian’s hopes ended in the gravel trap outside of Turn Two; he will head the second row in 5th spot. Sykes’ teammate Loris Baz crashed out of the first Superpole session, denying him a chance at the final session and putting him at the head of the third row, in front of Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea and Camier’s FIXI Crescent Suzuki teammate John Hopkins, the American undoubtedly watching his step in the tricky conditions to avoid a replay of the Imola crash that resulted in injuries to his hip.
World Superbike Silverstone Superpole qualifying results:
1. Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati 2:20.810
2. Leon Camier (GBR) Suzuki 2:20.846
3. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Ducati 2:21.385
4. Leon Haslam (GBR) BMW 2:21.613
5. Davide Giugliano (ITA) Ducati 2:21.951
6. Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW 2:21.960
7. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati 2:23.356
8. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 2:24.025
9. Loris Baz (FRA) Kawasaki
10. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda
12. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki