PTR Honda's Sam Lowes has edged out Broc Parkes for World Supersport provisional pole position this afternoon but is only ahead of the Ten Kate man by 0.039s but the pair are more than half a second ahead of Jules Cluzel on the second PTR bike.
Lowes and Parkes shared the lead for most of the 45-minute session with the Lincolnshire man taking a serious lead on 1'39.775 after only ten minutes but Parkes was in front ten minutes later with his 1'39.549. Lowes was having none of it, however, going top again with his very next lap and then cementing top spot with a 1'38.900 which Parkes came tantalisingly close to.
"It looks like it might be wet tomorrow so we wanted to get a banker in today. Both the tyres and the bike were working good and I was consistently in the low one minute 39 seconds bracket, so we're looking good. It's important if it will be wet tomorrow, as that means we're on pole, which is good," said Lowes.
"With a bit of rain today, I didn't want to make any silly mistake. We did a long run in the end too which was good. We have still got a bit of work to do as far as race pace and I can definitely improve my times but at the minute we're just looking forward to tomorrow and we've got both conditions covered."
Cluzel, meanwhile, is on 1'39.589 while veteran Fabien Foret, on the Kawasaki, rounds out the provisional front row with a 1'39.730. He was 0.005s faster than title favourite Kenan Sofuoglu with Imre Toth, Sheridan Morais and Massimo Roccoli making up the second row. Britain's Martin Jessopp was 18th and 2.5s in arrears.
Cluzel said: "Today is not bad but I am not very satisfied, I want more. My feeling with the bike is not perfect; maybe I am a little too nervous and did not do my best. I am consistent but I would like to improve my lap times so we have to check on the data where I am losing time and where we can go faster. The rain could play a big part in qualifying tomorrow and the race - the conditions are changing and it rained for the last four minutes of the session today. But third on the front row is OK."
