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By the time the World Supersport riders take to the track in Free Practice 1 on Friday morning, it will have been almost six weeks since they last met at Misano. The 2015 Pirelli Malaysian Round promises to be hotter than ever as Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) continues to hunt down three-time World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). The gap between them is 20 points - and PJ Jacobsen mustn’t be forgotten either…

Frenchman Cluzel has won the last two races, with the points lead of Sofuoglu plummeting from 40 to 20 points when the Turk made a rare error and slipped down the order on the final lap at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. The pair have four races left in their struggle for ultimate glory, but must not ignore American Jacobsen. The New Yorker will blast back into action on the CORE’’ Motorsport Thailand Honda, having had time to recover from arm pump surgery on both arms since the last race. He sits 40 points behind the championship leader, with a maximum 100 points still up for grabs between Malaysia and the Qatar finale.

Last year at Sepang, Cluzel missed out on the win by the tiny margin of 18 thousandths of a second. The victor was Michael van der Mark en route to the title, while Sofuoglu was required to work very hard for the final rostrum placing; he eventually clinched the desired third spot, fighting off the attentions of Roberto Rolfo. The top five was completed by Lorenzo Zanetti.

Mentioning top five finishes, precisely one of these was achieved by Ratthapong Wilairot as he made his World Supersport debut earlier this season in Thailand; he now returns to action for the Malaysian round, but on this occasion with CIA Landlords Insurance Honda as a replacement for Riccardo Russo. In the meantime, as he continues to recover from a track day crash, Kieran Clarke will miss the rest of the season and is covered for at Sepang by Aiden Wagner.

Friday’s opening World Supersport practice will start at 9am local time (GMT +8).