Can Öncü narrowly missed out on a third consecutive pole position in the Supersport World Championship as Round 4 of the 2025 season got underway at Cremona. The Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing rider was just 0.040 seconds off the top spot in Friday’s Superpole session.
With the Italian sunshine beaming down on the Cremona Circuit from early in the day, track temperature soared throughout the day on Friday. Öncü started the day third quickest in practice, but both the pace and track temperature hotted up for the Superpole session later in the day.
Quick throughout the 45-minute session, Öncü stormed to the top spot in the closing stages with a time of 1’31.768, a time that would only be bettered by 0.040 seconds in the dying moments of the session by Federico Caricasulo. Frustrated not to take pole, Öncü will start second on the grid as he looks to repeat his race-winning performance from both Portimão and Assen.
Championship leader Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) enjoyed his strongest Superpole performance of the season to secure a front row start in third. After winning the first race of the season in Australia, Manzi has taken five consecutive second places – a streak he is keen to break in front of his home crowd.
Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) will start sixth while an impressive showing from Niccolo Antonelli (VFT Racing) at home will see him launch from ninth on the grid for Saturday’s opening race.
Class rookie and reigning WorldSSP300 champion Aldi Satya Mahendra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing) continues his impressive campaign and will start 12th, less than a second off pole position.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s (GMT94 Yamaha) tough 2025 season continues with 19th on the grid, while rookie Yuki Okamoto (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) will line up 28th after two crashes on the opening day of action.
The first race of the weekend kicks off for the WorldSSP riders at 15:15 local time on Saturday.
FREE PRACTICE RESULTS
SUPERPOLE RESULTS
Can Öncü – 2nd – 1’31.768
“The first day has been very good, I am very happy. To be honest we have to improve a little bit more for tomorrow but everything should be fine. We know that we are very fast, because everyone tries to follow me – it is funny, but it just makes me feel strong! I think it will be an exciting race and I hope to enjoy a lot and let’s see what happens, but I hope to see you on the podium!”
