Masterful Mahias Times it Perfectly to Secure Pole at Imola

Qualifying

The GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team enjoyed a superb Saturday at Round 5 of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship. Reigning WorldSSP Champion, Lucas Mahias, secured his third pole position of the season in a dramatic, rain-affected SP2 after setting a brilliant 1:53.042 in what turned out to be a race against the weather.

The weather has been glorious all weekend at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, but just as the bikes were being warmed up for WorldSSP SP1, ominous grey clouds appeared, and a storm was on its way. This meant qualifying was a case of who could set the fastest time before the heavy rain arrived in an exciting game of cat and mouse.

Mahias (71 points) arrived in Imola having seen his championship lead reduced to just one point after two tricky races at Aragon and Assen. Determined to take the fight to his rivals in Imola, the 28-year-old French rider had rediscovered the feeling with his R6 during Friday's practice that he had enjoyed in Phillip Island and Thailand, finishing FP2 in second overall, just 0.051s behind his teammate.

This theme continued in FP3 as he again ended the session in second, this time just 0.065s off the pace of his teammate but the best was yet to come. As the riders were waiting for pit lane to open for SP2, the rain started to fall, and this saw everybody scramble to get out on their bikes as soon as possible and try and set a lap time on slicks before the track became too wet.

Flying out of his pit box, Mahias used all his endurance racing experience - where you have to get up to speed immediately so as not to lose any precious time - to set a sensational flying lap at the first attempt. As the first man out on track, he had to assess the conditions as he arrived at each corner, pushing as hard as he could with the rain coming down hard and timing it to perfection to set a 1:53.042 and securing pole with his first flying lap. As the rain increased, it became impossible for anyone to beat his time, meaning the man from Mont-de-Marsan had secured his third pole position of the season - and fourth in six races - by a whopping 0.985s. Mahias now heads into Sunday's race confident he has the pace to battle at the front and looking to extend his championship lead.

After the changeable conditions on Saturday, Sunday's forecast is for blue skies and a high of 25°C and the GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team are looking forward to hitting the track at 9:10 am local time (CEST) for Warm Up, with the 17-lap race due to start at 11:30 am. Check out the WorldSSP qualifying results.

Lucas Mahias

GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team - 1st - 1:53.042

"I am very happy! Today was very good for me. I liked the qualifying situation, it was so exciting to start with the rain coming down. I have a lot of experience in endurance racing, where you have to go fast right from your out lap, and in this kind of situation, I am pretty quick. For sure, it was very difficult because when I started I knew I would have only one lap to try and secure pole position. On the second lap, with the rain, it was impossible to go faster. I tried to exit first, I overtook Federico and I was the first person out on track. This made it hard as I was entering corners not knowing if it was wet or dry but I just pushed and pushed as much as I could. In Sector 3 for instance, I could smell the water on the track and it was very difficult. I looked at my lap time and thought it was okay, and I saw that had opened a gap on Federico so maybe it would be okay and from that moment, I was hoping it rained a lot. Pole position is great for the team, after two tricky races we had lots of meetings and we worked very hard and this is good for the atmosphere and feeling with the team. My race pace is really good, in the last two races I had to really push to just follow the other riders but now I have a really good feeling with the bike and my confidence is back! I feel really good for the race, I hope tomorrow it is a good race without lots of red flags like last year, for the riders and the fans too."

Filippo Conti

GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team Manager

"We had an amazing qualifying today, it was very different, but all the riders and the team did an amazing job! Lucas is very confident in changing conditions, even if it meant we had to change our team strategy but we always focus on getting the best result. Lucas and his whole team were very clever, and he just pushed as much as he could, controlling the risk, and we knew if he could get the quickest first lap he would secure pole position. It was very good work and it was great for the team.  I would like to thank the whole team as they have shown that in all conditions we can be fighting at the front and thank you to Yamaha for supporting us so well."