Yakhnich Yamaha’s Sam Lowes dominated once again out on the Portimao track, as he bagged provisional pole in the World Supersport qualifying practice session this afternoon.
The young Lincolnshire rider and current championship leader continued to beat his own lap time throughout the 45 minute session. First he clocked a 1’46.000 time on his sixth lap, only to do one better and set a 1’45.725 lap, to cement his position at the top of the time-sheets.
Reigning champ, MAHI Racing’s Kenan Sofuoglu completed his fastest lap of 1’46.246 with less than twenty five minutes remaining of the qualifying practice, and for one minute he was the fastest rider out on the circuit, only for Lowes to topple the Turkish rider to second.
Rivamoto’s Jack Kennedy, again found some good form, which he displayed in the free practice session a few hours before, and continued to be a dominant force out on the track. During the early stages of the session the Dubliner was setting consistently fast lap times, which catapulted him to the top of the time-sheets, and on only his third time around the Portimao circuit clocked a 1’46.344 lap, sending him to provisional pole. Sofuoglu and Lowes proved to have that extra pace, but Kennedy still finished with a provisional front row start.
Kawasaki Intermoto’s David Salom certainty made an impact during this session. The rider had been out of action for the past two months because of a hand injury, but made a solid start to his race weekend, as on his last lap set the fourth fastest time of 1’46.718, just in front of MAHI Racing’s Fabien Foret in the time-sheets.
Pata Honda’s Michael Van der Mark did reach as high as third in the session, but had to contend with challenges from Kawasaki Intermoto’s Luca Scassa and PTR Honda’s Sheridan Morais, who both rode faster lap times than the Gouda rider.
Suriano Racing’s Matthew Scholtz rounded off the top ten quickest times, with DMC-Lorenzini’s Kev Coghlan finishing the session in eleventh, with a time of 1’47.290. With just over ten minutes of the qualifying practice left, the Scot did push himself into the top ten, and found himself in seventh overall, but dropped to eleventh when the chequered flag appeared.
ParkinGO MV rider Christian Iddon never made it inside the top twenty this afternoon and could not improve on his fastest lap of 1’48.347, and ended the session in 23rd overall.
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