As the bad weather set in, the Italian shone to head an upside-down WorldSSP grid, which left Randy Krummenacher outside of the top ten
In what was a dramatic Tissot Superpole session for the WorldSSP championship, rain came halfway through the session which caused the grid to look a little bit different to how it has looked throughout most of the session. Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) banked an early lap and took the pole position, whilst teammate Randy Krummenacher was caught out and was left rad-faced down in eleventh place.
With just a few minutes of running before the rain came, it was Federico Caricasulo who took his second pole position of the season and the 22nd for Italy in WorldSSP history. The Yamaha rider pushed ahead for a best time of 1’31.092. More than seven tenths back, Misano pole-sitter Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took a third consecutive front row and a 21st of his career, whilst Raffaele De Rosa (MV AGUSTA Reparto Corse) completed the front row.
In fourth position and heading up row two, Jules Cluzel (GMT94 YAMAHA), who will feel a little bit robbed by the cruel British weather, after the Frenchman ended Friday comfortably on top. In fifth position, it was a stunning effort from Brad Jones (Appleyard Macadam Integro), who placed his Yamaha in the middle of the second row as the wildcard shone at home, putting his race craft to good use. The 21-year-old debutant is ahead of Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing), who takes his best starting position of the season.
Row three features Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), who has looked somewhat lost all weekend. The Japanese rider is just over a tenth clear of Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) in eighth place, whilst Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport Racedays) was top Honda, taking his fifth top-ten on the grid of the season with ninth. Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing) made it four Kawasakis and two Brits inside the top ten, as he concluded his Tissot Superpole session in tenth.
Randy Krummenacher was only 11th, whilst Jack Kennedy (Appleyard Macadam Integro) was only able to place 13th after being caught out by the bad weather. 15th place was Austrian, Thomas Gradinger (Kallio Racing), who will have plenty of work to do from row five.
Pole position – Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team)
“Today was a strange Superpole, but I think we followed a perfect strategy because just before the start of the session, I looked at the sky and realized that it was about to rain. I decided to push immediately, and we did a good lap time, and I am pleased about it. We were able to do two laps, and it is a pity because I wanted to test more my bike. We did a lot of changes since yesterday, and I needed more time on the track, but we still have the Warm Up tomorrow. If the weather changes tomorrow, I will be happy, but we are ready to race with both conditions”.
#GBRWorldSBK WorldSSP at Donington Park:
Tissot Superpole
1. Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) 1’31.092
2. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 1’31.812
3. Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 1’31.849
