The grid has been set for the first race of the FIM Supersport World Championship, with the #99 machine of Adrian Huertas [Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team] sealing the first Pole Position of the season onboard his Ducati Panigale V2.
Huertas set a new All Time Lap Record in World Supersport, blitzing Manzi’s time set this morning by half a second. The Spanish rider stopped the clock at 1:31.407. But, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the pole man, who suffered a nasty highside at Turn 11 in the closing minutes of Superpole.
While historically, the World Supersport Superpole session is usually held on Saturday morning, the new schedule is just one of many changes that we will see this season across the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. With weather vastly different in comparison to what WorldSSP riders had tested with earlier this week, riders had to battle a number of elements during the 40 minute session.
Yari Montella [BARNI Spark Racing Team] was the second fastest rider to lap the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, and rounding out the front of the grid at the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round for Race 1 was German rider Marcel Schroetter [MV Agusta Reparto Corse], who was four-tenths behind Huertas.
Our Free Practice 1 leader Stefano Manzi [Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing] wasn’t able to back up his blisteringly fast pace set this morning, crossing the chequered flag in 4th place with a 1:32.005.
Australian Oli Bayliss [D34G Racing WorldSSP Team] found himself a little bit lower down the timesheets than he would have liked, after technical issues saw him unable to complete any laps during this morning’s 40 minute Free Practice session. Bayliss will be starting Race 1 from 15th position, with the possibility of bettering this starting position for Race 2, with the new look race format.
Despite being a wildcard, our second Aussie on the grid Tom Toparis [Stop and Seal Racing] did a magnificent job in Superpole to finish right behind Bayliss, starting Race 1 tomorrow afternoon in 16th position, with his fastest time set of 1:33.336.
The top six from WorldSSP Superpole, full results here:
- Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 1’31.407s
- Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.159s
- Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +0.412s
- Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) +0.598s
- Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.634s
- Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.744s
Don’t miss Race 1 on Saturday at 14:30 Local Time (UTC+11) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
