2013 Silverstone World Superbike Friday Qualifying Results
Two weeks following the untimely death of Andrea Antonelli at Moscow World Supersport, the 2013 World Superbike Championship got underway Friday at Silverstone for round nine of 15.
And taking the provisional pole for Sunday’s doubleheader was the home rider at the UK circuit, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes. Though he suffered a turn-one crash late in qualifying one, the Ninja ZX-10R rider posted a 2:05.355 around the 3.66-mile circuit, a time that remained nearly untouchable.
This is good news for Sykes, who took six out of eight Superpoles so far this season; he will be looking to redeem some points from his DNF at Moscow Raceway in race one (race two was canceled due to Antonelli tragedy) due to technical issues.
Sykes, who trails Aprilia Racing Team’s Sylvain Guintoli by four points, didn’t had much competition during qualifying one. The next closest rider was FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, who was followed 0.096 of a second back by Althea Racing Aprilia’s Davide Giugliano, who took the his first World SBK pole at Moscow. Giugliano also suffered crash at Turn 8 about halfway through the sessions.
From Camier back to 12th place, all riders were within a sixth of a second of each other.
The Pata Honda World Superbike duo of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam followed Giugliano. The two Honda CBR1000RR riders are fresh off their appearance at the Suzuka 8 Hours, an FIM Endurance World Championship. Unfortunately Rea didn’t finish, but Haslam took the win. At Silverstone Q1, Haslam was the final rider to post within a second of Sykes.
The sixth through eight positions were filled by Aprilia Racing Team’s Eugene Laverty, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Loris Baz, and BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Marco Melandri.
The current points leader Guintoli finished ninth quickest, followed by FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel, and the top Ducati rider – Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini.
The other big crash at Q1 was Red Devils Roma Aprilia’s Michel Fabrizio. The ITalian crashed his RSV4 at Turn 13, and finished the session in 15th.
The 18-rider grid will return to the Silverstone Circuit Saturday morning for another round of qualifying practice ahead of Superpole.
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2013 Silverstone World Superbike Qualifying 1 Results:
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’05.355
2. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2’06.236
3. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’06.332
4. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 2’06.349
5. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 2’06.353
6. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’06.539
7. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’06.553
8. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 2’06.590
9. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’06.656
10. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2’06.718
11. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 2’06.735
12. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 2’06.826
13. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 2’07.516
14. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 2’07.546
15. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’07.753
16. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’09.126
17. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’10.471
18. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 2’11.866