Qualifying has always been important, but in the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship, Saturday’s 15-minute Superpole session to set the grid for the first two races of the weekend has rapidly become one of the most crucial sessions of the weekend.
While previously a good rider on a good day could often recover from a poor qualifying to take a strong race result, this is now becoming rare in WorldSBK as the field becomes more and more competitive. In the most recent round at Portimão, the top 15 in Superpole were covered by less than a second. This meant a rider who was just a second off the pace would start Race 1 and the Superpole Race 16th, with the only opportunity to improve that position coming in the Superpole Race, where a top nine finish would improve your qualifying spot for Race 2 on Sunday afternoon.
“Superpole now is so critical”, explains six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea. “There’s not much drop off with the Pirelli tyres now, so your starting position means everything. If you start at the back, you lose so many seconds in the start of the race, trying to avoid other riders, trying to guess what’s going to happen in front of you and all of a sudden, in just a few laps, the gap to the front is too big.”
With the level in WorldSBK as it is, if you qualify poorly, even if your pace is good in the race, it’s often not enough as getting through the field has become more and more challenging. Take Jonathan Rea in Most for example, he crashed on his first Superpole lap and while he was able to get out for a second run, 15th was the best he could manage. In the races, he had pace good enough for the podium, but starting so far back meant actually achieving the podium was out of reach due to the time lost at the beginning of the race.
While the ‘Superpole’ name may evoke memories of single-lap qualifying attacks, the modern-day Superpole session in WorldSBK is 15 minutes long, but that’s not a lot of time.
Niccolò Canepa coaching Andrea Locatelli
“The Superpole session is very quick, it’s really high pressure for the riders, the technicians and the bikes because in 15 minutes, you only have two chances to prove your best,” explains Yamaha Rider Coach, Niccolò Canepa.
Each rider can use two tyres in the Superpole session, often this is the super-sticky SCQ qualifying tyre from Pirelli, or at other tracks where tyre wear is particularly high, it’s the softest tyre available from the allocation, usually the SCX. And while these tyres can last over distance, their absolute best performance is usually gone after one or two laps.
“When pushing at 100% like in Superpole, the tyre can only do a really quick time maybe for one or two laps, so everything needs to be perfect,” explains GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK rider Dominique Aegerter.
With just 15 minutes available, there is no room for error. This, and the fact the best is gone from the tyre after one/two laps, makes the strategy in Superpole quite interesting.
The SCX tyre ready for the time attack
“The strategy is really difficult, because with having just two chances in only 15 minutes you have to think a lot,” Canepa adds. When you start with the first soft tyre, not only do you have to understand how the tyre feels, but it is important not do make any mistakes because if you crash in that first lap, you have no lap time set for the race and you’re going to be starting last.”
It is for this reason that the level the rider is willing to push is different on each of their two Superpole runs. If on the first outing, they know they have a respectable lap-time and will start in a reasonable position, they can push even harder on the second tyre, risking more, as they seek a position further up the grid.
“The best case is always when you make a good first lap,” Aegerter explains. “When you know you already have a good position, this means maybe on the second outing you can push a little more over the limit and go for an even better position.”
But even then it’s not straight forward, because there are other factors at play which can prevent a rider from making the most of their first qualifying lap aside from their own mistakes. Getting caught up in traffic can be a major problem, but also, if another rider has an issue and there are yellow flags waved, if you passed the yellow flag on your quickest lap, your time is cancelled.
Dominique Aegerter in full attack mode at Portimão
“In Portimao, Dominique was really quick on his second tyre but he came across some yellow flags so his time was cancelled,” Canepa explains. “Fortunately, he already had the first lap, so he did not lose too much.
Without doubt one of the most crucial sessions of the weekend, Superpole often leaves fans and teams on the edge of their seat as the 15-minute dash can make or break a rider’s weekend. Watch the video below to get a further insight from Yamaha’s WorldSBK teams and riders on how to extract the maximum from the high-pressured session.
