Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s 12th round World Superbike championship race at Magny-Cours in France from pole position after setting the fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole sessions.

Indeed, the Castrol Honda rider also beat the best Superbike lap at the 4.411km circuit, knocking more than two tenths of a second off Cal Crutchlow’s previous best, which was set in 2010.

It is Rea’s second World Superbike pole position, his first being set at Assen in Holland last season, and his time of 1m37.490s came in the final Superpole session after his Castrol Honda crew found an improved balance for his Honda CBR1000RR in the earlier free practice session.

Rea’s Castrol Honda team-mate, Ruben Xaus, did not ride today after being advised by circuit medical staff to rest his neck injury sustained in his first lap crash in yesterday’s opening free practice session. The 32-year-old Spaniard is confident of being fully fit for the final SBK round at Portimao in two weeks.

Jonathan Rea – P1 1m37.490s

It was a strong lap but we’ve had a good base for most of the weekend and we knew we had to make an extra step to make Sunday more comfortable. The guys gave me a great bike in free practice this afternoon and transformed some things with the balance of the bike, which gave me more confidence to push. So I kind of expected to be somewhere near the front but I didn’t expect the lap time to be that fast. We had a good Superpole 1 and that freed us up with the qualifiers for Superpole 2 and 3, so everything worked out perfectly. The big step we made in free practice means I can be quite consistent on my preferred race tyre, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow now. The team did a great job today, so I’d like to thank everyone.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

Of course, we all know that Sunday is the most important part of the weekend but Jonathan’s pole position here is reward for all the hard work that’s been put in back at the workshop over recent weeks. Also, a big credit must go to his crew for finding a breakthrough in his set-up – we believe the CBR is pretty much dialled in now and, as we all know, Sunday is when Jonathan wakes up with his race-face on, fully focused on what’s needed.


Pole position : 1m37.490s (162.884Km/h) Jonathan Rea, Honda
Circuit record lap : 1m38.619s (161.020Km/h) Noriyuki Haga, Ducati, 2009
Circuit Best Lap : 1m37.490s (162.884Km/h) Jonathan Rea, Honda, 2011

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