Nicolo Bulega will start from the front of the grid at the inaugural WorldSBK Cremona race for Saturday afternoon’s race despite a late crash.
With championship leader Toprak Razgatlıoğlu sitting out for this race weekend, Bulega made the most of the opportunity to snatch the pole position. His lap time of 1.27.953s placed him in unmarked territory as the sole rider to produce a lap in the 1.27s.
Ducati locked out the front row with Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci finishing second and third, respectively, but Petrucci will start in sixth due to his impeding in practice.
The final two minutes of the session saw Alex Lowes and Bulega crash in Turn 13 and Turn 2, but as no rider could improve due to the yellow flags being issued, Lowes finished fourth but will start third aboard his Kawasaki.
Andrea Locatelli will start fourth aboard his Pata Prometeon Yamaha, with the Italian sandwiched between the Lowes twins, with Marc VDS rider Sam finishing fifth.
Petrucci will start in sixth following his penalty, ahead of the Honda duo Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona occupying seventh and eighth.
Bradley Ray surprised everyone by qualifying ninth with his Yamaha Motoxracing team, ahead of BMW Motorrad’s Michael van der Mark, who rounded off the top-10.
Tito Rabat snatched a promising 11th spot for the Kawasaki Puccetti team, ahead of Bonovo BMW’s Garrett Gerloff and Kawasaki rider Axel Bassani.
Double reigning champion Alvaro Bautista could only muster 14th, with stand-in BMW rider Markus Reiterberger occupying 15th place on the grid.
READ MORE: Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea sidelined for Cremona WorldSBK round
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