The YART Yamaha team will get their final EWC round of the year underway from pole position after 1:33 lap times from all three riders secured them their third pole of the season.
Following a strong free practice on Thursday morning the Austrian squad finished a strong second. Local rider Karel Hanika got qualifying underway with a promising opening lap putting the Czech rider atop of the timesheets before he slipped back to second mid-way through the session. With more pace in the bike, an improvement on his final flying lap saw him return to the top, rounding out the opening session 0.173 seconds clear of second place.
The second session gave Marvin Fritz his first taste of the YART R1 in qualifying conditions, and like his team-mate, he immediately set the pace. Dominating the session until the end, the German finished second, four tenths adrift of the fastest time.
With one more session remaining, Niccolò Canepa stepped aboard the R1. Despite still suffering from a non-Covid related illness, the Italian stormed to second place before slipping to third by the chequered flag, finishing three tenths behind first.
After a strong second free practice performance, YART returned to the track for the final qualifying sessions of the afternoon.
Karel Hanika was first out for the final session and once again immediately found a good feeling with the R1, setting the quickest time on his first flying lap which kept him at the top for the remainder of the session.
Returning to the track on provisional pole, Fritz picked up where Hanika left off and immediately set the fastest time. Pitting for a fresh rear tyre, the German was able to improve his lap time to a 1:33.541 leaving him half a second clear of Suzuki in second.
With one final 20-minute session to go, Niccolò Canepa took to the 4.149km Most Circuit. The Italian’s 1:34.234 was enough for first place. An improvement to a 1:33.619 on a new Bridgestone rear tyre saw Canepa end the session on top and completed a hat-trick of first place finishes in qualifying two and meant that all three YART riders lapped in the 1:33’s.
The team’s average lap time of 1:33.571 rewarded them with their third pole of the season and five world championship points increasing their total to 52 points.
A strong performance from Gino Rea, Sheridan Morais and Dan Linfoot saw Wojcik Yamaha claim fifth place. An average lap time of 1:34.774 saw the Polish team end the session 1.203 seconds behind YART.
VRD IGOL EXPÉRIENCES and MOTO AIN will start Saturday’s race from seventh and eighth positions after another pair of good rides.
The 6 Hours of Most gets underway on Saturday 9th October at 11am CET.
