Tom Sykes racked up his fifth Superpole of the year by qualifying fastest at this weekend's Superbike World Championship meeting at Misano.
The Kawasaki rider was head and shoulders above his rivals on the Italian circuit as he sealed his place at the front of the grid with the quickest lap of the weekend to date.
The Briton clocked one minute 35.375 seconds to easily edge out compatriot Jonathan Rea (Honda) by more than 0.6secs.
Home favourite Ayrton Badovini (BMW) was an impressive third with another Italian, Davide Giugliano (Ducati) fourth.
The pole position will put Sykes in a strong position to add to his one win of the campaign and cut the gap on the championship leader.
Sykes lies third in the overall standings, level on points with Marco Melandri (BMW) and 18 points behind the leader, Italy's Max Biaggi (Aprilia).
The top two endured a qualifying session to forget as neither managed to make it out of Superpole 1.
Biagi will start Sunday's races from the third row, while Melandri and Spain's Carlos Checa (Ducati), another title challenger and the defending champion, will be on the fourth.
The championship's rights holders Infront Motor Sports announced on Saturday that the Buddh International Circuit near Delhi in India would join the series calendar in 2013 after the operators signed a four-year contract.
