WorldSBK Aragon: Baldassarri opens WorldSSP account on pole despite late crash

Evan Bros. Yamaha’s Lorenzo Baldassarri kicked off his WorldSSP career with pole position at Motorland Aragon on Saturday.

The only rider lapping in the 1’52’s, Baldassarri held off 2021 WorldSSP Champion Dominique Aegerter and Puccetti Kawasaki’s Can Öncü as the pair rounded out the Parc Fermé celebrations in Alcańiz.

The opening Supersport superpole action of 2022 saw Öncü immediately stake his claim with a 1’53.303 lap to sit half a second clear with his opening effort. Former Moto2 rider Nicolo Bulega challenging in second on the Ducati Panigale V2 before Baldassarri demoted him by a mere 0.06s on his debut after also switching World Championship paddocks.

Althea’s Federico Caricasulo sat fifth behind EAB’s Glenn van Straalen with GMT94 Yamaha’s Jules Cluzel close on his wheels before Baldassarri took charge overall and Aegerter arrived to third. MV Agusta’s Niki Tuuli, VFT’s Marcel Brenner and MTM Kawasaki’s Adrian Huertas completing the top ten at the halfway stage.

Kyle Smith sat 13th as leading Brit on the second VFT with Tom Booth-Amos five places behind on the Prodding ZR-6R while Oli Baylis began his full-time World Championship debut with Ducati from 23rd.

The Moto2 locked out the head of the standings as the action fired up, Baldassarri leading Bulega before the red flag came out after Federico Fuligni crashed on the corkscrew with his D34G Racing Ducati stranded in the middle of the track. Raffaele de Rosa thankful for the extra time as the Orelac team frantically attempted to get his Panigale ready to compete with no time yet on the board.

The final five minutes saw a flurry of activity as the green light shone once again. Booth-Amos leaping to tenth in the times as Öncü returned to the lead but