[Supersport] Duel at the top between Jules Cluzel and Lucas Mahias for the Superpole at Donington

On the occasion of the British round of the Supersport World Championship, the sixth of the season, qualified for Superpole 2: Federico Caricasulo, Lucas Mahias, Jules Cluzel, Sandro Cortese, Randy Krummenacher, Raffaele De Rosa, Ayrton Badovini, Andrew Irwin, Sheridan Morais and Luke Stapleford.

We noted the absence of Kenan Sofuoglu, who had said goodbye to the world of competition as a driver during the last round at Imola. On the other hand, Corentin Pérolari was present on the Yamaha GMT94 that Mike di Meglio rode at the very start of the season. Pérolari had had this R6 in Aragon this year, but did not know Donington.

The great fight opposed five riders grouped in twelve points at the head of the World Championship: Randy Krummenacher, Lucas Mahias, Sandro Cortese, Jules Cluzel and Federico Caricasulo, all on Yamaha R6.

At the start of Superpole 2 (lasting 15 minutes), the German Sandro Cortese took the lead in 1'31.109. Jules Cluzel set the second time, 0.02 behind Cortese. Lucas Mahias was fourth at 0.4.

Cortese improved his best performance in 1'30.823, then everyone returned to the pits.

4 minutes from the checkered flag, Jules Cluzel took provisional pole position in 1'30.530, then Lucas Mahias overtook him in 1'30.465. Only 0.006 separated the two Frenchmen, ahead of Cortese and Krummenacher.

Jules Cluzel took the lead again 1 minute from the end in 1'30.270. He will therefore start from pole position this Sunday at Donington with Lucas Mahias and Sandro Cortese at his side. Randy Krummenacher formed the second row with Hikari Okubo (despite a small fall at the end of the session) and Raffaele de Rosa. Federico Caricasulo only qualified in seventh position. Perolari was twentieth.

Qualification results:

 

Reference times:

Test record: 1'29.925 by Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) in 2015

Lap record: 1'30.425 by Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta) in 2015

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1 RANDY KRUMMENACHER 81 points YAMAHA

2 LUCAS MAHIAS 79 YAMAHA

3 SANDRO CORTESE 77 YAMAHA

4 JULES CLUZEL 75 YAMAHA

5 FEDERICO CARICASULO 69 YAMAHA

6 RAFFAELE DE ROSA 51 MV AGUSTA

7 LUKE STAPLEFORD 45 TRIUMPH

8 NIKI TUULI 38 HONDA

9 ANTHONY WEST 27 KAWASAKI

10 THOMAS GRADINGER 22 YAMAHA