By Glenn LeSanto

Dienza Ducati Racing snatched pole from the Ten Kate Honda team with a flying last lap from Vitto Guareschi. Up until that point Fabien Foret and Pere Riba on their Ten Kate CBR600F4i Hondas had dominated qualifying.

Many riders adopted a tactic of riding tandem, where one teammate would follow another to maximize the drafting effect on the very fast Monza circuit. It was a technique also used by James Whitham and his Belgarda Yamaha teammate Paolo Casoli. The pair qualified fourth and fifth respectively, they had been in the second and fourth during the session.

Katsuaki Fujiwara and Karl Muggeridge, also teammates on Suzuki GSX-R600s and using the tandem technique, qualified behind the Belgarda pairing despite Muggeridge crashing out with only minutes left in the session.

Guareschi’s last lap of 1:43.858 came as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the qualifying session. Riba, second on the grid, recorded a time of 1:43.985, and the two were the only riders to dip below the 1:44 mark.


Supersport World Championship
Monza, Italy

Final Qualifying


1. Vitto Guareschi, Italy, Ducati, 1:53.858
2. Pere Riba, Spain, Honda, 1:53.985
3. Fabien Foret, France, Honda, 1:54.019
4. Jamie Whitham, Great Britain, Yamaha, 1:54.272
5. Paolo Casoli, Italy, Yamaha, 1:54.521
6. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan, Suzuki, 1:54.620
7. Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki, 1:54.909
8. Fabrizio Pirovano, Italy, Suzuki, 1:54.927
9. Corradi, Italy, Yamaha, 1:54.991
10. Iain MacPherson, Great Britain, Kawasaki, 1:55.012