Yakhnich Motorsport’s Sam Lowes will start the World Supersport race from pole position, his second in a row, after a frantic last lap dash secured him the first spot on the grid at Monza.
The Lincolnshire rider looked like he would miss out on pole, after Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres rider Florian Marino dominated the time-sheets with less than twenty minutes of the qualifying session remaining. But as the chequered flag appeared Lowes clocked his fastest lap of 1’47.899, pushing Marino to second on the grid. During the session both riders spent a lot of time in their garages, and during this time drops of rain started to fall on the Italian tracks.
Reigning champ MAHI Racing Team India’s Kenan Sofuoglu did make it up to a provisional second spot on the grid, but during the 45 minutes of qualifying lappery he never managed to make it to the top and he was unable to match the pace of Lowes, but he will start on the front row after setting a time of 1’48.417. Sofuoglu did have to contend with charges from Pata Honda Lorenzo Zanetti, but the Italian had to settle for the second row, after being marginally off the Turkish rider’s pace.
Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini’s Kev Coghlan was never outside the top ten in this afternoon’s session, and even though he went on the gravel and took a little de-tour with ten minutes left, it did not faze the Scot and he will start on the third row, in eighth after setting a time of 1’49.132. He will be in good company as he will also be joined by Pata Honda’s Michael Van der Mark, who was just a fraction quicker than the Brit, and rounding off the third row will be MAHI Racing Team India’s Fabien Foret.
Rivamoto’s Jack Kennedy could only manage a lap time of 1’49.964, and will start from seventeenth on the grid. It was not a positive qualifying outing for ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse rider Christian Iddon. The Stockport native experienced a technical problem with less than two minutes left of the session, and could not improve on his time of 1’51.128, and will start the World Supersport race tomorrow from the ninth row.
