The 2021 FIM Supersport World Championship is electric and the Saturday Tissot Superpole session at the Circuito Estoril was as frantic as ever. Despite blissful sunshine beating down, a strong headwind was making life a little tougher to World Supersport’s protagonists, although it didn’t stop the charge to pole. Looking in fine form and continuing his strong showing from Friday, Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) took his first pole position since Losail 2019.

THE FRONT ROW: the return of a maestro

Caricasulo putting in a string of strong laps and became the first rider in World Supersport to get down into the 1’39s bracket and backed it up in the final minutes of the session. It was an emphatic showing from Caricasulo, who took pole with a time of 1’39.973s to finish ahead of Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), with the German placing his Kawasaki in second and on the front row for the second consecutive weekend. Completing the front row was Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team), who put his Yamaha YZF-R6 on the front row with his final roll of the dice, making it a South African on the front row for the first time since Jerez in 2017, when Sheridan Morais was also third.

TOP 10 CHECK-IN: big names and a slight change

Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) was fourth, with the Frenchman in the mix all the way through Saturday running thus far and only being bumped off the front row as Odendaal came to the fore. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) had a relatively quiet session, but it was a consistent one, as the Swiss rookie slotted into fifth place. Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) came home in sixth place, despite his lap time was being investigated, although no further action was taken – this makes it two Kawasakis inside the top six.

Heading up row three on paper is Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) in seventh, but the Finn will start Race 1 from pitlane due to the crash caused with Cluzel at Aragon in Race 1. Therefore, heading up row three for Race 1 will be Estonia’s Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing), ahead of Luca Bernardi (CM Racing), with the San Marinese rider suffering a crash at Turn 7 but was unscathed. Completing the top ten on the results and inheriting a third row start for Race 1 will be Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team).

SUPERPOLE STORIES ELSEWHERE

Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) was down field once again with the Swiss lining up in 11^th, although 10^th for Race 1. Race leaders from Aragon – Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) and Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) – were 14^th and 15^th, whilst up ahead of them was Kevin Manfredi (Altogo Racing), the top WorldSSP Challenge rider.

Top six after WorldSSP Superpole, full results here:

1. Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) 1’39.973s
2. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.121s
3. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +0.211s
4. Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.246s
5. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.318s
6. Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) +0.485s

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