Sofuoglu and his team made changes to his machine set-up in practice that allowed him to make full use of the performance of his Ninja ZX-6R at the all-new track in Thailand in qualifying. More importantly Sofuoglu also feels he should have a good race pace on Sunday.
Kenan was 0.205 seconds ahead of his closest rival in the lone qualifying session at the 4.554km circuit and he is now in the perfect starting spot to keep that advantage on the first lap.
The next fastest Kawasaki qualifier was Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) in fifth place with his team-mate PJ Jacobsen in sixth place.
Dominic Schmitter (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) made it into the top ten after qualifying while Faccani aims to improve on his 11th place on the grid in Sunday’s race.
The second day of track action in Thailand was considerably cooler than the first, with even rain greeting the riders in the final free practice session this morning before the track dried out in time for qualifying.
Kenan Sofuoglu: “I found some pace and I am really happy – especially for my team as this is the first pole position for the Puccetti team in this championship. I am happy for them because they have worked very hard and they deserve it more than me. When I see how they work I feel pressure to give them a good result and today we gave them that kind of result. The goal is always the race itself and for sure I will try my best. It has been a long time since I won a race and I think the time has arrived but I would like to give my team at least a podium. The track is nice but it was a little bit difficult to set-up the gearbox. We have managed it well in the end. There is good grip from the track surface and I am happy to be here.”
Marco Faccani: “The track is quite good for me, I think. The bike, after the final session, improved a lot and I am happy to race tomorrow. I should do a good race I think and I think the top ten will be my target in my first visit to this venue.”