Charpentier bounces back to take pole

Sebastian Charpentier showed no ill effects of his pelvis and coccyx injuries by securing provisional pole position in the first qualifying session today (Friday).

In what was his first day on a bike since crashing out in free practice on the Friday at Donington Park, Charpentier was just over two tenths of a second outside his last years lap record.

Charpentier piped Yamaha man Broc Parkes by just two 100ths of a second with current series leader Keenan Sofuoglu in third.

Andrew Pitt, riding as a third man in the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda squad ran at the front early on but slipped to ninth place at the finish.

New boy Steve Martin, who’s substituting for the injured Kevin Curtain ended the session in 13th place in his first ride on a 600cc Supersport bike for seven years.

Britain’s Craig Jones made a promising start to the weekend by putting his Reve Ekerold Honda on a provisional fourth row of the grid after qualifying in 15th place, 1.3 seconds off pole position.

First qualifying results:

1. Sebastien Charpentier FRA Honda 1:42.174
2. Broc Parkes AUS Yamaha 1:42.191
3. Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Honda 1:42.482
4. Fabien Foret FRA Gil Kawasaki 1:42.755
5. Vasa Kallio FIN Suzuki 1:42.773
6. Barry Veneman NED Suzuki 1:42.875
7. David Salom ESP Yamaha 1:43.000
8. Massimo Roccoli ITA Yamaha 1:43.010
9. Andrew Pitt AUS Honda 1:43.040
10. Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN Honda 1:43.167
11. David Checa SPA Yamaha 1:43.241
12. Gianluca Nannelli ITA Ducati  1:43.245
13. Steve Martin AUS Yamaha 1:43.297
14. Davide Giugliano ITA Kawasaki 1:43.369
15. Craig Jones GBR Honda 1:43.414
16. Vladimir Ivanov RUS Yamaha 1:43.478
17. Simone Sanna ITA Honda 1:43.539
18. Pere Riba SPA Gil Kawasaki 1:43.578
19. Sebastien Gimbert FRA Yamaha -1:43.601
20. Lorenzo Alfonsi ITA Honda 1:43.624
21. Joan Lascorz SPA Honda 1:43.804
22. Javier Fores SPA Honda 1:44.159
23. Arie Vos NED Honda 1:44.162
24. Yoann Tiberio FRA Honda 1:44.200
25. Gianluca Vizziellio ITA Yamaha 1:44.227
26. Joan Veijer NED Honda 1:44.252
27. Miguel Praia POR Honda 1:44.475
28. Chris Peris CAN Yamaha 1:44.789
29. Ghisbert Van Ginhoven NED Ducati 1:44.855
30. Tatu Lauslehto FIN Honda 1:45.118
31. Julien Enjolras FRA Yamaha YZF 1:45.525
32. Tomas Miksovsky CZE Honda 1:46.246
33. Nicola Milovanovic SWE Honda 1:46.247
34. Gilles Boccolini ITA Kawasaki 1:46.353
35. Jesco Gunther GER Honda 1:46.541
36. David Forner ESP Yamaha 1:47.183
37. Yves Polzer AUS Ducati 1:47.405