Britain's Kyle Smith took WorldSSP pole at Magny-Cours this morning with a run of consecutive fast laps that saw him top the timesheets by more than a tenth of a second.
Smith, continuing to stand in for the injured Jules Cluzel, faced late pressure from Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) as the Frenchman aimed to secure pole position at his home circuit, but Smith’s last lap pf 1’49.318s was enough to take pole position.
Smith and Mahias will line up alongside Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) with the Spanish rider in third, completing the front row; his first front row start in WorldSSP.
2020 WorldSSP Champion Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) qualified in fourth place as his run of consecutive pole positions came to an end; fourth place the lowest starting position for Locatelli in 2020.
He will line up alongside Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) as the Italian secured his best Superpole result at Magny-Cours, ahead of Galang Hendra Pratama (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) as the Indonesian scored his best starting position of 2020.
Karel Hanika (WRP Wepol Racing) qualified in seventh place as he made his first WorldSSP appearance, qualifying ahead of Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) in eighth place.
Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) ended up in ninth place despite tracking Smith throughout the first part of the session as he sat in the top three.
Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) completed the top ten; the British rider showing impressive pace in the early parts of the race.
