Davide Giugliano took advantage of a mistake from Tom Sykes to claim the first pole position of his World Superbike career in Moscow. The Italian pipped Chaz Davies with two minutes remaining of the final session which began in dramatic fashion with the demise of the Superpole favourite.
Sykes had comfortably set the pace in the two knockout sessions, going faster on a race tyre than anyone else could manage on a qualifier, and the question heading into SP3 seemed to merely how big a margin Tom would take pole by. However on his first lap of the session, that all changed as the front end of the Kawasaki folded through turn three, sending the Yorkshireman off into the gravel. In such a short session, there was no time for either rider of motorcycle to get back to the pits and the other eight competitors had been presented with a gilt-edged opportunity.
Davies looked set to grab it after clocking a 1:34.833, still three tenths slower than Sykes had gone in SP2, but with a couple of minutes remaining, Giugliano lowered the benchmark time to a 1:34.676 sending the Althea crew into raptures at their first pole since this meeting in 2012.
Eugene Laverty put in a late flyer to snatch third from Jonathan Rea while Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa will fancy their chances from fifth and sixth. Jules Cluzel will start seventh with the two leading championship contenders, Sylvain Guintoli and the disappointed Sykes, line astern in eighth and ninth. Guintoli’s task will be all the more difficult after dislocating his shoulder in a cycling accident earlier this week.
| 2013 eni Superbike World Championship – Round 8: Moscow | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superpole Result | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Best Time |
| 1 |  Davide Giugliano |
Aprilia | Althea Racing | 1:34.676 |
| 2 |  Chaz Davies |
BMW | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 1:34.833 |
| 3 |  Eugene Laverty |
Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team | 1:34.934 |
| 4 | Jonathan Rea |
Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 1:35.058 |
| 5 | Marco Melandri |
BMW | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 1:35.115 |
| 6 |  Carlos Checa |
Ducati | Team Ducati Alstare | 1:35.220 |
| 7 |  Jules Cluzel |
Suzuki | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 1:35.256 |
| 8 | Sylvain Guintoli |
Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team | 1:36.113 |
| 9 | Tom Sykes |
Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | No Time |
| Eliminated In SP2 | ||||
| 10 | Leon Camier |
Suzuki | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 1:35.761 |
| 11 |  Max Neukirchner |
Ducati | MR-Racing | 1:35.788 |
| 12 | Loris Baz |
Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | 1:36.033 |
| Eliminated In SP1 | ||||
| 13 | Leon Haslam |
Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 1:36.069 |
| 14 | Ayrton Badovini |
Ducati | Team Ducati Alstare | 1:36.286 |
| 15 | Michel Fabrizio |
Aprilia | Red Devils Roma | 1:36.329 |
| Failed To Qualify For Superpole | ||||
| 16 | Federico Sandi |
Kawasaki | Pedercini Team | 1:38.048 |
| 17 | Vittorio Iannuzzo |
BMW | Grillini Dentalmatic SBK | 1:39.079 |
| 18 | Lorenzo Savadori |
Kawasaki | Pedercini Team | 1:39.504 |
