The Yamaha R9 will make its WorldSSP race debut from the front row of the grid at Phillip Island tomorrow, after GMT94 Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias put in a strong performance in this afternoon’s 40-minute Superpole session to qualify in third position.
After two days of testing at the iconic Grand Prix circuit, anticipation was high for the R9’s first-ever Superpole session and things got off to a promising start for the all-new, three-cylinder machine. After unpredictable weather throughout the week, temperatures soared on Friday making for challenging track conditions.
2017 WorldSSP champion Mahias got things off to a strong start in the first free practice of the year, sitting fifth quickest at the end of the opening session just 0.326 seconds from the top of the timesheets, closely followed by Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing’s Can Öncü in sixth.
Since 2024, WorldSSP only get the one 40-minute practice session before heading straight into Superpole in the Friday schedule meaning there is little time to search for the ‘perfect’ set-up before pushing for a qualifying time.
Mahias and Öncü, plus Michael Ruben Rinaldi (GMT94 Yamaha) and Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate), were fighting for the front two rows throughout in a busy qualifying session with several laps lost to yellow flags as riders crashed out.
It was Frenchman Mahias who came out on top of the Yamaha contingent with a time of 1’32.635 placing him third on the grid for Saturday’s opening race ahead of Öncü, who was just 0.009 seconds off securing a front row starting position in fourth.
Twice vice-champion Manzi narrowly missed out the second row and will start his first race with the R9 from eighth on the grid, while Rinaldi lines up tenth after coming across yellow flags on his final flying lap, which had initially looked to be good enough for the first or second row.
2024 WorldSSP300 champion Aldi Satya Mahendra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing) got his rookie WorldSSP campaign off to an impressive start with 14th in his first ever Superpole session, lapping the Phillip Island Circuit less than a second off pole position.
The WorldSSP teams have just ten minutes on track for warm-up on Saturday morning before the lights go out for the opening race of the 2025 season at 14:30 (AEDT) local time.
FREE PRACTICE RESULTS
SUPERPOLE RESULTS
Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) – 3rd, 1’32.635
“I’m happy with the result, but I am not 100% happy because for the moment I am not completely comfortable. The result is good for Yamaha and the team, but I want a little bit more – I am a rider, if I am happy with third I should go home! The track temperature was very warm today and it’s the first time I have ridden this bike in these conditions so we have some to learn. The track is very slippery and this makes it difficult as it is easy to lose time and make a mistake. In almost every session since the test, riders have been getting injured so this tells you a lot about the conditions, so for me the goal for our first race has to be to finish as it is not possible to win the championship here but you can definitely lose it!”
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