Supersport, Misano J2: Magnificent Superpole for Lucas Mahias

Federico Caricasulo (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) was ready to take on the Superpole, having on Friday set a time of 1'39.951 ahead of Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) at 0.185, who preceded Randy Krummenacher (Bardahl Evan Bros WorldSSP Team ), Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha), Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport Racedays), Luca Ottaviani (SGM Tecnic), Lorenzo Gabellini (Gomma Racing), Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing) and Isaac Viñales ( Kallio Racing).

To Federico Caricasulo (Bardahl Evan Bros. Yamaha Supported WorldSSP), “ It’s normal for me to have a fast teammate on the other side of the pit” said the 23-year-old Italian. “When I raced for GRT Yamaha, my teammate was Lucas Mahias and I learned a lot from him. The same is true this year with Randy Krummenacher. At Assen I learned a lot from Randy and I think he learned from me at Imola. The current situation is therefore advantageous for both of us. Things in our booth are pretty normal, even when we fight every weekend. Everyone gets along well for work. We are all working towards the same goal, so this is a normal situation. At the moment we have no problem being together in the booth. Maybe in the next races, at the end of the season, this can change but for now everything is fine ».

According to Jules cluzel, “We have worked well, we still have a few details to optimize to continue progressing, but it is possible to aim for a good place for qualifying. The track offers very little grip, but everyone is facing the same problem, and it will be important not to make any mistakes.”

To Corentin Perolari, who are " Yesterday was an off day. I wasn't able to enjoy the confidence I normally have with my Yamaha R6. Yesterday's special conditions bothered me perhaps more than the others, but we still made progress during the two sessions. The few adjustments found at the end of FP2 will undoubtedly allow me to be more competitive today. The times are very tight, it is possible to do great things! ».

According to Jules Danilo, who are " Yesterday was a difficult day because there was no grip and I couldn't drive like I normally do with corner speed. We will see what we can do because we worked on a good basis in Jerez and I don't want to start changing everything again, but if we have to do it, we will do it. My team leader, Stu, is still helping me today and we can do good qualifying ».

Great feat from Lucas Mahias

It was with 28° for the air and 37° for the track temperature that this Superpole session began. The times to beat were the 1'39.951 set by Federico Caricasulo on Friday, and the circuit record of 1'37.482 set by Jules Cluzel (then on MV Agusta) in 2015.

Lucas Mahias led the charge in 1'39.510. The improvements made (legally) to his ZX-6R seemed to be paying off. Randy Krummenacher followed him on R6, Raffaele de Rosa on MV F3 675 and Jules Cluzel on R6. Corentin Perolari was thirteenth and Jules Danilo sixteenth at the start of the session.

Mahias' time held up well, the fastest since the start of the weekend. Federico Caricasulo took command at home in Italy with a time of 1'39.293. His teammate Randy Krummenacher improved to 1'39.206 and immediately fell without seriousness.

Luca Ottaviani also fell without damage, followed by Peter Sebestyen, Jules Danilo's teammate. Caricasulo tried in the last minutes to close his gap of 0.08 on his teammate Krummenacher, but it was Lucas Mahias who slipped between the two teammates, 0.04 behind Caricasulo. Then Mahias took the best time in 1'38.909, which guaranteed him pole position ahead of Caricasulo and Krummenacher. It was Kawasaki's first Supersport pole since Kenan Sofuoglu at Portimao two years ago.

Jules Cluzel qualified fifth, Perolari fifteenth and Danilo twenty-first.

Superpole results:

Reference times:

Test record: 1'37.482 by Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta) in 2015

Lap record: 1'38.193 by Sandro Cortese (Yamaha) in 2018

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

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