Toprak Razgatlioglu crushed the lap record and the competition during World Superbike Superpole qualifying Saturday at Donington Park, in England. Riding his ROKiT BMW Motorrad M 1000 RR on Pirelli control tires, the Turkish star turned a lap time of 1:24.629 around the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) circuit. Not only was that good enough to top the 23-rider field and the next-fastest rider by more than 0.5 second, it blew away the All-Time Lap Record of 1:25.823 that Remy Gardner set earlier in the day during Free Practice Three (FP3) by 1.2 seconds!
Rookie sensation Nicolo Bulega was the best of the rest with a 1:25.202 on his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, and Scott Redding thrilled the English fans by claiming the third and final spot on the front row with a time of 1:25.406 on his Bonovo Action BMW.
Sam Lowes was fourth with a 1:25.492 in spite of crashing his Elf Marc VDS Racing Ducati during the session. Dominique Aegerter qualified fifth with a 1:25.528 on his GYTR GRT Yamaha YZF-R1. And Razgatlioglu’s teammate Michael van der Mark earned the sixth spot on the grid with a 1:25.621.
American Garrett Gerloff, Redding’s teammate, qualified 12th with a lap time of 1:25.845 – just 0.6 second from P2.