His great recovery, after quick and assured work from his team, saw him take his 19th career pole position that placed him in an ideal grid spot to take on the 18-lap race at the 4.592km circuit in Portugal on Sunday afternoon.
Increasingly windy conditions this afternoon made qualifying tough for all riders but the warm weather conditions through practice over two days allowed for consistent work to be made at one of the most intense circuits on the WSS calendar.
The next best Kawasaki qualifiers were Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) in eighth place and Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) in ninth.
Roberto Tamburini (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) eared an 11th place on the starting grid while another Ninja ZX-6R rider, Roby Rolfo (Kawasaki Team Go Eleven), completed the fourth row.
Christian Gamarino (Kawasaki Team Go Eleven) placed 19th and headed up the two remaining Kawasaki riders; Tony Covena (Kawasaki Ponyexpres Intermoto) and Alessandro Nocco (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki).
Kenan Sofuoglu: “I cannot say we had an easy day especially after the crash I had in the morning when I lost the front in free practice. The mechanics had to work hard until a few minutes before qualifying to build a completely new bike. My feeling at that time was not so good. I did not hurt my body but I lost a lot of energy and did not have a very good feeling. The first part of qualifying I was missing corners and my confidence was affected but later I realised I could set a good time so I pushed for a fast lap and got pole position. Now we are searching a little for final race set-up and we are in a tight area for tyre choice but we are strong in our pace so I think tomorrow we have quite a big chance to win. The team has done a great job and we have a good new direction with suspension. From now we will go in this way because even on a used tyre I could stay inside the top three times. It looks like the bike is working how I like it and I am happy for that.”