2016 Magny-Cours World Supersport Superpole Results: Does Fifteen Minutes Extra Practice Make Perfect?

Twenty eight riders contested the first Superpole on a damp track with PJ Jacobsen and Lorenzo Zanetti quickest of the Superpole one qualifiers.

Zanetti was late in leaving the pits as work on his bike continued as other riders recorded laps, including Jacobsen with a pace-setting 2'03.178. Kyle Smith crashed out at turn five before recording a lap.

In the second wave of laps, Christoffer Bergman, Ohlins suspension's test rider, and Gino Rea were quicker than Jacobsen. A couple of laps later, Jacobsen was the first rider under 2'01 with a blistering 1'58.828, over two seconds quickest. Lorenzo Zanetti finally got out of the pits and rode around until he could find a van to put his bike in without recording a lap time.

Federico Caricasulo was on the pace to join Jacobsen at the top, but for the second lap in a row he ran off track and got his fast laps cancelled. Gino Rea took the top spot with a 1'58.147, crossing the line as they were unpacking the flag to end the session, but his last lap would not be any better than his penultimate one. It was up to PJ Jacobsen to set a 1'57.646 to take the top promotional spot from Rea and both riders qualified for the second session.

Kyle Smith, Christopher Gobbi and Lorenzo Zanetti didn't record a lap and would end up with thirty-five riders ahead of them, although Alex Baldolini would not be taking part in Superpole two, having injured himself earlier.

Kenan Sofuoglu, a man likely to win the championship this weekend, caught traffic on his out lap and just tucked back into the pit lane to avoid entanglement. PJ Jacobsen was the quickest rider after one lap, with a 2'01.733, over a second quicker than everyone else.

When Sofuoglu finally put in a lap, he was second quickest, a second off Jacobsen's lap. Another lap down, Jacobsen increased the pace to 1'57.471 then 1'56.724, making the most of the extra fifteen minutes of practice, as did Gino Rea, third quickest behind Sofuoglu with three minutes left.

Randy Krummenacher, eleventh quickest and pitted in, jumped out in the last three minutes and raced to record one last lap, while his teammate Sofuoglu got to within two thousandths of Jacobsen's provisional pole lap. Sofuoglu caught two ESS riders on a fast lap but struggled to pass them and only just beat the flag for one last stab at pole position while Jacobsen tried to increase his lead.

PJ Jacobsen increased his pace with a 1'55.786 but Kenan Sofuoglu pulled out all the stops and snatched an impressive pole position with a 1'55.461, three tenths quicker than the Honda man. Gino Rea lost a fast lap and had to concede third place to Ayrton Badovini.

Results:

Qualifying:

Superpole One:

Superpole Two: