Sofuoglu fastest in fragmented second Supersport practice

Assen race winner Kenan Sofuoglu made his intentions plain ahead of tomorrow’s Superpole session, by going almost half a second clear of the field in a red flag-affected FP2.

Just like in the Superbike session before it, World Supersport FP2 was stopped just five minutes in when Hiromichi Kunikawa crashed at Turn 7 and left gravel strewn across the track. The delay didn’t last long, but the red flag would make a second appearance with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Twitter: Red Flag due to @baldolini25 technical issue on track #WorldSSP FP2 https://t.co/TuhqJdA8t5 (@WorldSBK)

The second stoppage came about after the returning Alex Baldolini’s MV Agusta blew its engine on the run down the hill to Turn 18, leaving a trail of oil in its wake. A lengthy red flag period followed whilst the marshals returned the track to a safe condition.

Once back underway, the timing screen lit up with a flurry of fast sectors as riders tried to either cement or bag a place inside the top 10 to avoid SP1. Already at the top of the pile, Puccetti Kawasaki’s Sofuoglu twisted the screw to go 0.456s clear with a 1m51.647s.

FP1 fastest man Federico Caricasulo ended his afternoon six minutes early when he crashed at Turn 7, but held onto second spot on the combined times with his 1m52.105s from the opening session.

Jules Cluzel was another faller, the Frenchman going down just after the second red flag was withdrawn, but he was able to rejoin the session and post the third quickest time.

Kyle Smith jumped up to fourth spot at the chequered flag with a 1m52.231s, the Lorini Honda rider closely followed by championship leader Lucas Mahias on the second GRT R6. Sheridan Morais, just as he did in FP1, slotted in behind the Frenchman in sixth.

PJ Jacobsen ends Friday’s running seventh overall, though the American has work to do overnight to close the eight-tenth deficit to Sofuoglu. Christian Gamarino, Hikari Okubo and leading European Supersport runner Alessandro Zaccone completed the top 10.

Gino Rea was pipped to a top 10 spot by Zaccone in the dying seconds, the Briton heading Roberto Rolfo, countryman Luke Stapleford, one-event rider Loris Cresson and Stapleford’s temporary team-mate Jack Kennedy.