Federico Caricasulo took pole position in the World Supersport class on Saturday at the almost completely dry Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit ahead of Nicolo Bulegga and Yari Montella. Glenn van Straalen qualified fifteenth.
Saturday at 12:25 local time, 02:25, the Superpole session of the World Supersport class at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit began. After a relatively warm and sunny Friday in the Australian circuit, conditions were now very different with significantly lower temperatures, more wind and rain.
Before the start of this qualifying round, it rained, so the asphalt was wet and the drivers took to the track with rain tyres. There seemed to be a dry streak to the race, but that wasn’t the case everywhere, so the drivers and teams didn’t take any risks in the early stages of the course.
Halfway through the session it was two-time world champion Dominique Eggerter who was almost four seconds faster than the competition and seemed on track to sweep the world class Supersport field, by which time only Jules Clausel and Lorenzo Baldassare were within the 105% lead of the Swiss.
Everything seemed to be perfectly timed by Aegerter and Ten Kate Racing, but in the closing stages of the session several drivers fitted an intermediate front tire and a slick rear tyre, and it ended up being the better combination for the almost perfectly dried track.
With a 1’37.161, Federico Caricasulo took pole position with Nicolò Bulega behind him who set exactly the same lap time as his compatriot, but Caricasulo’s second best lap was better and he secured pole position. Jari Montella made it one of the top three finishers in Italy ahead of Dominik Eggerter who ultimately fell short of pole position by twenty. Behind them were Lorenzo Baldassarri and Marcel Schroeter, who made their debuts this weekend, and Can Onco, Raffaele De Rosa, Simon Jespersen and Niki Toyoli rounded out the top ten.
It’s a flood of final laps as Karikasolo takes the turns! 💥
It’s a deadly heat between him and me @employee! 🤏#AUSWorldSBK 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/wlKYTPew7y
– WorldSBK (WorldSBK) November 19, 2022
The first race of the World Supersport class will start at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday at 2:30pm local time, 4:30am Dutch time.
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