Supersport in Buriram: Lucas Mahias and Jules Cluzel at the top

The two big events that marked the start of the Thai Supersport weekend were the arrival of Lucas Mahias at the top of the World Championship, and the withdrawal of Kenan Sofuoglu whose pelvic fracture was still not healed.

In SP1, the two qualifiers were Ratthapong Wilairot and Kyle Smith. Superpole 2 was shaping up rather favorably with the best time in FR3 on Saturday morning for Jules Cluzel, ahead of Lucas Mahias.

On the other hand, for Mike di Meglio, things remained quite difficult with only the tenth time in Superpole 1, i.e. the twentieth on the starting grid. The GMT Yamaha was not yet performing well enough, but this should be the case for the next race in Aragon in mid-April.

Jules Cluzel was the fastest at the start of the session in 1'37.264, ahead of Federico Caricasulo. Then Lucas Mahias took the lead in 1'36.878, 0.7 ahead of Randy Krummenacher. Cluzel moved to sixth position at 1.2.

Everyone stopped in the pits, then the twelve drivers present then set off for the final sprint. Luke Stapleford on the Triumph moved up to seventh position, just behind Jules Cluzel.

Federico Caricasulo climbed to second place 0.4 behind his teammate Lucas Mahias. Sandro Cortese moved up to third ahead of Randy Krummenacher.

Lucas Mahias improved to 1'36.738, and Jules Cluzel followed him very closely at 0.229. The two Frenchmen will therefore start this Sunday from the first row of the starting grid alongside Federico Caricasulo.

Supersport qualifying standings:

Provisional ranking of the Supersport World Championship:

Photos © Yamaha