Kenan Sofuoglu ended the opening day of World Supersport practice ahead of the Portuguese round top of the timesheets from first practice pacesetter Sheridan Morais.
Lausitzring race winner Morais was in imperious form as the day’s running got underway this morning, the South African eight tenths clear of the field in first practice on a 1m45.829s.
Morais‘ time stood for much of second practice, with only Sofuoglu – who comes into this weekend’s racing just a point off of the championship lead – putting it under threat with a series of early quick laps.
Sitting on a 1m45.974s as the clock counted down the closing minutes of the session, Sofuoglu dug deep and produced a 1m45.443s to go 0.386 seconds clear of the field.
The Puccetti Kawasaki rider remained unchallenged as the rest took the chequered flag, while Morais‘ best effort from this morning kept him second overall.
PTR Honda’s Jules Cluzel, a double race winner in Portugal, jumped up to third with a 1m45.848s ahead of championship leader Lucas Mahias, who had to abort his final effort after a big moment exiting Turn 14.
PJ Jacobsen completed the top five on his MV Agusta ahead of Federico Caricasulo and Michael Canducci, who recovered from a crash in the first session to secure direct passage into the second part of Superpole.
Niki Tuuli has work to do on Saturday morning to cut down the 1.3s deficit to his Kallio Racing team-mate in eighth. Gino Rea and Christian Gamarino rounded out the top 10.
Kyle Smith endured a tough start to his weekend, a technical issue with his Lorini Honda curtailing his running this morning.
The Briton suffered no such dramas in the afternoon, but was pipped to a place in SP2 by just over half a tenth in 11th. Fellow Brits Luke Stapleford (15th) and Kyle Ryde (19th) will join Smith in SP1 on Saturday.
Hikari Okubo was the only faller in the second session, the Japanese rider losing the front-end of his PTR Honda on the run into Turn 8 after the chequered flag had fallen. He was unscathed in the crash and ended the day 14th on the combined timesheets.
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