Dominique Aegerter was in dominant form once again as the Ten Kate Yamaha rider claimed his fourth WorldSSP Superpole of the 2022 season at Donington Park.
The only rider to break the 1’30 barrier, Aegerter’s 1’29.961 lap was almost four-tenths of a second ahead of his closest rivals as Nicolo Bulega battled EAB Yamaha’s Glenn van Straalen and Can Öncü for front row contention. The Puccetti Kawasaki settling for fourth at the flag.
Supersport qualifying kicked off under blue skies and British sunshine as Aruba Ducati’s Bulega headed the pack rolling out of pitlane. The Italian set the initial 1’31.631 pace as the first laps registered, before Öncü and Yamaha’s Lorenzo Baldassarri bettered - the second Italian holding the first 1’30 of the day.
Aegerter began Superpole with a sedate, for him, 1’31.460 sitting him sixth in the early standings before improving to third as he too broke into the 1’30’s. GMT Yamaha’s Jules Cluzel and Athea Ducati’s Federico Caricasulo outpacing the reigning champion next time around as the top five all circulated under the 1’31 barrier.
British rider Kyle Smith claimed seventh on the VFT Yamaha with his third effort, narrowly behind van Straalen with Raffaele de Rosa and Unai Orradre splitting the pair seconds later on the Orelac Ducati and MS Racing R6 respectively.
Aegerter was in charge with his fourth lap of the session - a 1’30.477 - to sit a quarter of a second ahead of his Evan Bros. rival, van Straalen and Cluzel trailing Baldassarri by a mere three-hundredths of a second. The Frenchman continued his climb as he challenged for second in the closing minutes, before Bulega bettered overall.
Three minutes to go and the Ducati held court with a 1’30.474, just 0.003s clear of the class leader with the timing screens ablaze as the final shots registered. Van Straalen, Bulega and Aegerter all continued to improve as the trio took turns for provisional pole with the Swiss rider finding the first 1’29 of the day as the penultimate minute began.
Another strong showing from the EAB rider was denied with a crash at Goddards with the yellow flags impeding Cluzel’s fastest effort as the Frenchman returned to sixth behind Caricasulo. Aegerter claiming his fourth pole position of the season thanks to his 1’29.961 effort as the chequered flag dropped.
