Lowes leads the way on Sofuoglu and Zanetti in Q1
Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) was the quickest rider in World Supersport Qualifying 1. The Championship leader, who is very close to his first-ever World Title, set a competitive 1'42.144s lap-time in the second part of the session to edge Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki). The Turk, three time WSS Champion, suffered a technical problem with 4 minutes to go and was forced to lean his ZX-6R against the fence at Turn 5 and walk back to the pits.
Pata Honda Lorenzo Zanetti proved to be in good form by finishing third ahead of Christian Iddon (Parkingo MV Agusta Corse), Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha), Kev Coghlan (DMC-Lorenzini Kawasaki) and team mate Michael van der Mark.
Local rider Florian Marino (Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki) had a crash at Turn 12 halfway through the session, while he was pushing to improve his position. The young Frenchman ended up first qualifying in thirteenth place.
