Ten Kate Yamaha’s Dominique Aegerter secured the WorldSSP Superpole with a new circuit record at Estoril on Saturday morning.
The Swiss rider, fresh from his MotoE victory at Le Mans, dominated the Portuguese session from the outset before smashing the previous best with a 1’39.046. Aruba.it’s Nicolo Bulega held off the tight pack to claim second with EAB Racing’s Glenn van Straalen completing the front row ahead of the afternoon race.
A cloudy Estoril Circuit greeted the World Supersport field as Superpole fired up on Saturday morning. Ben Currie back in action with the Kawasaki following his recovery from injury with Tom Booth-Amos opting to sit out for the remainder of the weekend having tested the waters on his left ankle fracture during Friday practice.
Raffaele de Rosa’s Panigale V2 suffered a technical in the opening minutes with the Italian black flagged off track while Aegerter lead the way in the times as the first laps registered. A 1’40.242 the opening benchmark in the hunt for pole.
The reigning champion defended his position with an improved effort next time around as Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Baldassarri battled for second on the GMT94 and Evan Bros Yamaha’s, Can Öncü the leading Kawasaki in fourth with Bulega representing Ducati from fifth.
The Bologna bullets were on the move with the next revolution as the former Moto2 rider promoted himself to second with Federico Caricasulo sitting fourth on the Althea as Aegerter advanced the pace with two lightning quick laps resulting in a new circuit record of 1’39.484.
Van Straalen was the next to improve on his way to fourth, seven-tenths adrift of the leading Swiss. The second GMT94 of Andy Verdoia, Puccetti of Yari Montella and MS Racing’s Ondrej Vostatek completing the top ten with four minutes left to run.
Caricasulo launched to second with his personal best of the weekend so far, Baldassarri, Bulega, Cluzel and Verdoia trailing in the top six as the clock counted down with van Straalen and Öncü heading Niki Tuuli on the MV Agusta. Caricasulo crashing out on his next flyer in the final minute.
With the chequered flag preparing and the yellow flags out for the Italian’s final sector fall, there was limited time for some rider’s last efforts. Aegerter managing his time to perfection as he increased his lap record pace once again with a 1’39.046 to command the session from a gaggle of pursuing machines. Bulega scored second, a massive 0.838s behind the Yamaha with van Straalen completing the first row. Baldassarri, Cluzel and Verdoia demoting Caricasulo as they claimed the second row with the Althea man heading row three from Öncü and Tuuli as the session concluded. Dynavolt Triumph’s Stefano Manzi claimed tenth on his return from two Moto2 excursions with the VR46 Yamaha Master Camp team.
