Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu set the second fastest time in this afternoon’s final qualifying session for tomorrow’s 11th round World Supersport championship race at Nurburgring in Germany, earning himself a front row start alongside pole sitter Eugene Laverty.
Sofuoglu, who leads fellow Honda rider Laverty in the points standings by just 17 points with three races remaining, had set an impressive pace in yesterday’s qualifying, but the Turkish ace was unable to improve his lap times around the historic 5.139km Nurburgring as much as he had anticipated.
His Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Michele Pirro, today continued his rehabilitation following injuries sustained in a crash at Brno in July. The 24-year-old Italian, was eighth fastest this afternoon and will start tomorrow’s 19-lap race from the second row of the grid.
Kenan Sofuoglu – P2 1m58.557s
I can’t say I’m happy with qualifying here because I know that all weekend my speed has been quite fast. Unfortunately, my last tyre this afternoon did not give me so much grip, so I couldn’t put in a really fast time. I’m OK for tomorrow though and I’m on the front row. Over longer runs I’m still quite fast so I’ll try to be first tomorrow, which is the one that’s important.
Michele Pirro – P8 1m59.381s
Today was better because we were able to improve the feeling with the bike, but my body is no good. I still have some pain from my wrist and no power in my hand when I push the brake. I did seven fast laps together this morning and there was no problem, but my wrist didn’t feel so good this afternoon. Tomorrow it’s possible to finish the race in a good position so I want to thank the team for all the hard work to make this possible for me.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
It’s a little disappointing for Kenan to miss out on pole position after the speed he had shown yesterday afternoon and in free practice this morning. However, the front row is the important thing and we hope a good result in the race can follow. Michele is still suffering a bit from the injuries he sustained in his Brno crash, and a full race distance will ask some questions of the strength in his wrist, but I’m sure he can dig deep to challenge for a good result tomorrow.
