Yakhnich’s Jules Cluzel stopped Mahi Racing’s Kenan Sofuoglu from clinching his nineteenth pole of his World Supersport career at Imola this afternoon, as the Frenchman posted a 1’51.110 to top the qualifying timesheets.
DMC Panavto-Yamaha’s Kev Coghlan was on course for a front row start but in the end had to settle for fourth on the starting grid as Cluzel, Sofuoglu and Pata Honda’s Lorenzo Zanetti all went quicker. But Cluzel was nearly a second off the best lap record clocked by Sam Lowes last year.
Sofuoglu came out of the starting blocks in dominant fashion and soon saw himself at the top of the timing screens with a 1’51.417 after 15 minutes, but the Pata Honda pairing of Zanetti and Michael Van Der Mark were never too far behind and were matching the pace of the triple champion in second and third places.
Kawasaki Intermoto’s PJ Jacobsen made his way inside the top five times just under the 20 minute mark with a 1’51.914 rotation to place him fourth, followed by his team-mate Florian Marino, who did run wide a few times during the qualifying outing. But Jacobsen soon fell off the pace and will lead row three.
Coghlan was out of the top ten times for the majority of the session but from out of nowhere lapped a 1’51.659 that propelled him from eleventh to second with ten minutes left of track time available. But the Perthshire rider fell to third after Yakhnich’s Jules Cluzel put in a hot lap to go second quickly followed by Zanetti.
As the chequered flag appeared Coghlan re-gained his second place start after a 1’51.524, but was quickly bumped down to fourth as Zanetti and Cluzel went quicker, with the Frenchman clinching another pole position. Coghlan will now head row two and will be joined by Tamburini and Van Der Mark.
There was a red flag with 16 minutes remaining after the CIA insurance backed Honda machine of Raffaele De Rosa had an engine blow out ending his chance of competing for the front row. But his team-mate did not fair that well either.
With thirty minutes of track time left CIA Insurance Honda’s Jack Kennedy crashed at Piratella while he was twelfth fastest, ending his chance of battling it out for a front row start. But the Dubliner was declared OK at the track side, and made it back out on to the circuit.
He unfortunately could not improve on his 1’53.290 time and will start from a lowly nineteenth on the grid. Com Plus Racing’s Fraser Rogers will start the race tomorrow in 23rd place on the grid after his best time of 1’56.656.
