The Race of Champions is undoubtedly the highlight of this WDW, and today the qualifying rounds took place—a preview of Sunday’s race featuring the Panigale V4-S bikes.
Nicolò Bulega secured pole position with a time of 1’34”386, just two seconds off the lap record set last June on a Superbike in Superpole. For the occasion, the Aruba rider edged out a superb Lorenzo Baldassarri by just 68 thousandths of a second.
It was a great performance by the Go Eleven rider, who secured a Superbike one-two finish. Rounding out the front row is Pecco Bagnaia, who is just 228 thousandths away from the top slot. A mistake in the third sector cost the rider from Piedmont dearly, causing him to lose crucial tenths.
Things went a little bit worse for Marc Marquez, who chose not to push the pace. The Spaniard finished qualifying in 12th place behind Bautista, facing a gap of two seconds and two-tenths from the benchmark set by Bulega.
Returning to the top positions, Yari Montella heads the second row, followed by Alberto Surra, who edged out Franco Morbidelli by 51 thousandths. The VR46 rider was in sixth place with Di Giannantonio behind him leading off the third row, where we can also find Bridewell and Pirro. Syaharin is also in the top ten. Mackenzie is 13th, followed by Tulovic, Jacobsen, and Waters.
