WorldSSP riders battled for entry to Tissot-Superpole 2 in Free Practice 2, at 19:45 local time (GMT+3), with Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) leading the way as he charges towards the final weekend of the season with the overall standings top of mind.

Krummenacher heads into the Gaerne Qatar Round fighting for second overall and by topping the timesheets in the combined standings on Friday evening, he cements his position as a serious challenger for the fight. Ayrton Badovini (GEMAR Balloons – Team Lorini) finished in second after setting times consistently in the top three throughout the session. Alex Baldolini (Race Department ATK #25) proved he’s back from injury and stronger than ever, setting the third quickest time of the evening.

The first half of the session remained steady with only the top two riders improving their times from the earlier session. Badovini was first to shake things up by briefly setting the fastest time, before Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) overtook him and improved on his combined time to lead until the half-way mark. Newly crowned World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) soon joined the party, shooting to the top with his fastest time of the night and continued to lead, until the final minutes of the session saw times tumble rapidly as riders desperately fought to finish in the top ten.  

Honda World Supersport Team’s PJ Jacobsen - who is another challenger for second overall - finished in fourth proving he’ll be hard to shake off. Smith finished in fifth ahead of Sofuoglu in sixth, who wasn’t able to match the pace of the top five as he did in the earlier session.

Michael Canducci (GRT Racing Team) qualified for Tissot-Superpole 2 by finishing FP2 in seventh ahead of Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in eighth. Christoffer Bergman (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) was ninth man through with Kyle Ryde (Schmidt Racing) coming home in tenth and was the last man to gain a direct seeding to Superpole 2.

The stars of WorldSSP will be under the spotlight once again on Saturday 29^th of October for the Tissot-Superpole qualifying sessions to decide the grid ahead of Sunday’s season finale.