The Oval Lingotto in the centre of Torino, Italy, showed all its beauty during the opening day of the FIM Supermoto Grand Prix of Italy.
After a very hot afternoon, Saturday evening and night were a little bit wet and cold, but nothing could prevent the two fastest Supermoto riders of the day from clocking the pole.
Thierry Van Den Bosch was the fastest in the S1 class, as Gerald Delepine clocked the quickest lap in the S2.
In the European series, Frenchman Baptiste Rheims was the fastest S3 racer, while Petr Vorlicek owned the Open class thanks to a flying lap.
Aprilia Off Road‰Ûªs riders Thierry Van Den Bosch and Jerome Giraudo fought for pole once they first entered the 1200 metre track, but it was countryman Adrien Chareyre of CH Husqvarna snatching the pole at half session distance.
The one minute barrier was still a solid rock, but VDB made to break it with one minute to go. No one else was able to get closer to the defending Champion, who was the only man on track lapping faster than one minute.
Adrien Chareyre tried his best and finished second, keeping a very solid Ivan Lazzarini of Yamaha Evolution behind in third.
Lazza was also the fastest home rider, followed by Jerome Giraudo in fourth, closing the front row. Thomas Chareyre of CH Husqvarna was dramatically close to Giraudo, but finished fifth fastest ahead of TM factory‰Ûªs Fabio Balducci.
2005 World Champion Boris Chambon was seventh fastest, while last year‰Ûªs S2 World Champion Bernd Hiemer rounded off the top ten.
When the S2 session started, Luca Minutilli of H2O Racing stormed into the track and clocked the provisional pole, but it was not going to last.
A very fast Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio was quick to snatch the pole from countryman Minutilli, as Pignotti aims at increasing his lead in the Championship.
CH Husqvarna‰Ûªs Gerald Delepine broke the Italian‰Ûªs record, but an impressive Nestor Jorge squeezed his BQR Spain Aprilia to clock a faster lap than Delepine‰Ûªs one.
The time sheets looked all settled for just a bit, then Delepine, Christian Iddon of Aprilia Off Road and Pignotti started a personal challenge for pole that took the crowd‰Ûªs breath away.
Delepine improved his previous lap to a very fast 1:00.662, leaving Pignotti behind in second by less than two tenths of a second. Iddon made it to third, with Husaberg WP Ipa‰Ûªs Robert Baraccani completing the front row.
Max Verderosa will open the second row, and looked ready for a solid race on Saturday, but a very dangerous Davide Gozzini will start right next to him. Marcel Goetz rounded off the top ten, as KTM fellow rider Ales Hlad was 14th fastest.
Main Photo: Can veteran VDB also in this GP?
