Smith claims maiden World Supersport pole despite fall

Full World Supersport qualifying results at Magny-Cours

Kyle Smith has recorded his first World Supersport pole position in wet conditions at Magny-Cours despite seeing a lap time deleted and a mid-session fall.

The Pedercini Racing Kawasaki rider mastered the wet track to instantly take provisional pole position before low-siding off at Turn 5 while pushing the grip limits.

The British rider recovered to make it back to the pits and after a quick fix returned to track action to confirm his pole position with a 1m 56.287s despite having his penultimate lap of the session excluded for exceeding track limits.

It marks Smith’s first World Supersport pole on his 56^th start in the championship.

Smith was pushed late on by Jules Cluzel on the GMT94 Yamaha with Ayrton Badovini completing the front row for Pedercini despite also falling late on in qualifying at Turn 3.

World Supersport championship leader Federico Caricasulo grabbed the front of the second row for Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha with former world champion Lucas Mahias taking fifth place for Puccetti Kawasaki, despite suffering a Turn 5 fall, to split the title rivals with Randy Krummenacher rounding out row two.

Hikari Okubo leads row three for Puccetti Kawasaki in front of Friday’s fastest rider Corentin Perolari on the GMT94 Yamaha with Isaac Vinales taking ninth place for Kallio Racing Yamaha.

Peter Sebestyn rounded out the top 10 on the CIA Landlords Insurance Honda with Glenn van Straalen 11^th on the EAB Racing Kawasaki. Jules Danilo completes row four in 12^th place for CIA Landlords Insurance Honda.