Supersport World Championship Qualifying at Donington: Pole position for Öncü – Öttl 10th

Triumph rider Tom Booth-Amos set the fastest time in free practice for the Supersport World Championship at Donington Park on Friday morning. Can Öncü and Lucas Mahias (both Yamaha) finished in second and third places respectively. Germany’s Philipp Öttl (Ducati) had a minor crash but finished the weekend’s first session in eighth place.

Like the free practice session, the 40-minute qualifying session in the afternoon also took place in summery conditions. After six minutes, Mattia Casadei had a slight slip at Turn 12. As he was not allowed to restart his Ducati on the track, he had to push his bike off the track afterwards.

After nine minutes, Alessandro Zaccone (Ducati) crashed in the area between Turns 9 and 10. As there was a great deal of gravel on the track afterwards, the session was interrupted to clear the asphalt. At that point, Tom Booth-Amos was leading the session with a time of 1:29.065 mins. Can Öncü, Albert Arenas, Jeremy Alcoba and Corentin Perolari rounded off the top five at that stage.

A few minutes later, the session resumed. Shortly before the halfway point, World Championship leader Arenas set a new fastest time of 1:28.951 min. By way of comparison, the Supersport lap record at Donington was set by Adrian Huertas with a time of 1:28.322 min.

The top five after 20 minutes: Arenas, Booth-Amos, Öncü, Masia and Garcia.

Ten minutes before the end, Can Öncü set a new fastest lap of 1:28.650 min. Shortly afterwards, Federico Caricasulo (ZX Moto) crashed in Turn 10 – he then crawled through the gravel trap, clearly shaken. Philipp Öttl was in 12th place at that point, with Dominique Aegerter in 13th.

Shortly afterwards, Aegerter set the eleventh-fastest time, whilst his Kawasaki team-mate Alcoba surged up to fourth place. Zaccone suffered his second crash of the qualifying session – once again at Turn 10.

There was plenty of action on the track in the final laps. However, no one managed to beat Öncü’s time. Oli Bayliss crashed in Turn 11.

Can Öncü secured pole position. Albert Arenas and local hero Tom Booth-Amos complete the front row.