[Supersport Final] Lucas Mahias in pole position in Qatar / Jules Cluzel 5 points from the title

The big moment has arrived ! It is this Saturday at 16:30 p.m. (French time) that Sandro Cortese and Jules Cluzel will face off for the world title, with the German 5 points ahead of the Frenchman on the starting grid.

The news fell this Thursday afternoon: Lucas Mahias saw himself restore his Portimao victory by the CAS (Tribunal of Arbitration for Sport) and he regained his third place in the provisional ranking of the World Championship. Jules Cluzel found himself only 5 points behind Sandro Cortese, which changed everything.

If Cluzel wins on Saturday in Losail and scores 25 points and Cortese finishes second and scores 20 points, Jules will be declared World Champion due to his greater number of victories (5 so far, compared to 2 for Sandro).

Cluzel does not feel too alone because “ In order to support their champion, motorcycle pilot Jules Cluzel, native of Montluçon, around fifteen die-hard supporters traveled 6.288 km! Head to Qatar "(The Mountain)

At the end of Thursday's free practice, the ten automatic qualifiers for Superpole 2 were Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team), Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing), Randy Krummenacher (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) Jules Cluzel (NRT), Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha), Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team), Hector Barbera (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) and Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing).

Pole position for Lucas Mahias

Video: Thomas Gradinger, fastest in Superpole 1

During qualifying, the two drivers who progressed to Superpole 2 by getting out of SP1 were the German Thomas Gradinger, Jules Cluzel's teammate within the NRT team, and the Estonian Hannes Soomer. On the other hand, Ayrton Badovini on the official MV Agusta failed and had to settle for third place, which was not very reassuring about his possibilities of finding a place in a good team for 2019.

At the start of Superpole 2, Mahias took the lead in 2'01.041 ahead of Cortese at 0.04, Cluzel and Perolari (in Jules' aspi) at 0.4. Krummenacher fifth was 0.7 behind. Then everyone returned to the pits to prepare for the final sprint.

In the final minutes, Mahias improved his best time to 2'00.461. He took pole position for the sixth time this year. He preceded Cortese by 0.1 and Cluzel by 0.5. Stapleford moved to the second row with the fourth fastest time, alongside Perolari and Smith. Caricasulo made up the third line with de Rosa and Gradinger. Hector Barbera was only tenth at 1.2.

Qualification results:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Race time:

Final of the World Supersport Championship this Saturday at 16:30 p.m. (French time)

Photos © Yamaha / worldsbk.com / Dorna