Friday, 10 May, PORTIMAO (Portugal): Defending Ski GP1 World Champion Kevin Reiterer was made to work hard for his first pole position of the new season, narrowly edging out Marten Manni by two-hundredths of a second in another thrilling qualifying session on the Arade River in Portimao.
The Victory Team rider dominated both the morning practice sessions and looked comfortable after Q1 going quickest with a 3.14s advantage over Lukas Binar and a 3.29s over Manni, but he was then put under huge pressure in the closing stages of Q2.
With less than 90 seconds on the clock Reiterer was one-hundredths shy of the pole and went for what was his last flying lap, overturning the tiniest of margins to seal the pole by 0.2s seconds with a 1:37.57s last gasp lap.
Stian Schjetlein improved his time by over four seconds in Q2 to leapfrog Binar and set the third best time of 1:40.25s.
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