Ayrton Badovini revelled in miserable weather conditions to claim the first pole position of his World Superbike career at the Nurburgring. The Italian was competitive throughout the wet Superpole session and edged ahead of Marco Melandri with his final lap of the afternoon.
For Alstare Ducati, Badovini’s success earned them their first pole since Phillip Island in a painful season and the Italian rider dedicated the result to the hard work of his mechanics.
“I’m really happy with the result. I knew that if it was wet we’d have the chance to qualify on the front row but I didn’t expect to be on pole, it’s fantastic! Towards the end of the second phase the track was getting more and more slippery, it was risky but I wanted to give it my all, to see if we could finish on top and we did it. In those kind of conditions, the union between my 1199 Panigale and my ability in the wet works perfectly. I’m enjoying this moment; this result is for the team that has worked so hard since the start of the season. We haven’t formulated a strategy for the races yet but to start out in front will surely be an advantage.”
Melandri was another rider to shine in the wet conditions, in contrast to the dry conditions which had seen his teammate Chaz Davies dominate, and Marco will line up second on the grid for tomorrow’s races ahead of title challenger Tom Sykes who’s SP2 ended early with a highside at turn three. Loris Baz starts right behind his teammate in fourth with the Hondas of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam completing row two.
Davies will still hope to come through from seventh in tomorrow’s races but Aprilia have it all to do with Sylvain Guintoli eighth and Eugene Laverty twelfth, the latter having missed out on a place in SP2 after a frantic end to the first session.
| 2013 eni Superbike World Championship – Round 10: Nurburgring | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wet Superpole Result | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Time |
| 1 |  Ayrton Badovini |
Ducati | Team Ducati Alstare | 2:09.513 |
| 2 | Marco Melandri |
BMW | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 2:09.616 |
| 3 |  Tom Sykes |
Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | 2:10.136 |
| 4 |  Loris Baz |
Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | 2:10.401 |
| 5 | Jonathan Rea |
Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 2:11.204 |
| 6 | Leon Haslam |
Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 2:12.006 |
| 7 | Chaz Davies |
BMW | BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK | 2:12.663 |
| 8 | Sylvain Guintoli |
Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team | 2:13.177 |
| 9 | Jules Cluzel |
Suzuki | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 2:14.454 |
| Eliminated In SP1 | ||||
| 10 |  Max Neukirchner |
Ducati | MR-Racing | 2:15.975 |
| 11 | Leon Camier |
Suzuki | FIXI Crescent Suzuki | 2:16.393 |
| 12 |  Eugene Laverty |
Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team | 2:16.409 |
| 13 | Michel Fabrizio |
Aprilia | Red Devils Roma | 2:16.660 |
| 14 | Davide Giugliano |
Aprilia | Althea Racing | 2:18.775 |
| 15 |  Matej Smrz |
Yamaha | Yamaha Motor Deutschland | 2:19.277 |
| Failed To Qualify For Superpole | ||||
| 16 |  Mark Aitchison |
Kawasaki | Pedercini Team | 1:56.344 |
| 17 | Markus Reiterberger |
BMW | Vanzon-Remeha-BMW | 1:56.362 |
| 18 |  Carlos Checa |
Ducati | Team Ducati Alstare | 1:56.451 |
| 19 | Federico Sandi |
Kawasaki | Pedercini Team | 1:57.482 |
| 20 | Vittorio Iannuzzo |
BMW | Grillini Dentalmatic SBK | 1:58.409 |
