Jules Cluzel claimed his 19th career pole position and his first of World Supersport 2017 after dominating qualifying in Thailand.
The CIA Landlords Insurance Honda rider is a battered and bruised man after a massive crash at Phillip Island two weeks ago, but showed no signs of it by going over four tenths clear of the field with a last-gasp effort of 1m37.683s.
Thai wildcard Chalermpol Polamai took his Yamaha R6 to a sensational second ahead of factory GRT Yamaha rider Lucas Mahias. Polamai’s team-mate Decha Kraisart will start from fourth, with Superpole 1 graduate Zulfahmi Khairudding completing the top five.
Lorini Honda’s Kyle Smith will be disappointed with sixth having topped both sessions on Friday. Federico Caricasulo, also coming from SP1, guided his R6 to a credible seventh ahead of Hikari Okubo, Christian Gamarino and Kyle Ryde.
MV Agusta’s PJ Jacobsen was a mystifying near-second off of the pace of Cluzel down in 11th, while late visor problems halted Gino Rea from improving on 12th.
The Kallio Racing team will be disappointed at missing out on SP2 after Niki Tuuli was demoted to third by Khairuddin right at the death. The Finn’s team-mate Sheridan Morais slots in two tenth adrift in 14th.
Robin Mulhauser, on the third CIA Landlords bike, was a little ragged down in 15th, while Aiden Wagner in 16th will be kicking himself after a crash at Turn 7 cost him a shot at getting into the second part of qualifying.
Michael Canducci headed temporary Puccetti team-mate Thitipong Warokorn in 17th, with Kazuki Watanabe, Epis Lachlan and Nacho Calero behind. Australia race winner and current standings leader Roberto Rolfo will start a disheartening 22nd.
The second round of the 2017 WorldSSP Championship will be lights out at 14:30 (GMT+7) on Sunday.
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