The FIM Supersport World Championship fired back up for FP1 at the stunning Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, with plenty of interesting stories setting the scene for the weekend. The Portimao venue has frequently hosted classic races and after the opening session for the class this weekend, it was Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) who left it late to lead the way into the afternoon.

Locatelli had been in second for the majority of the session but left it until the final few moments to hit the top, narrowly pipping Jules Cluzel (GMT94 YAMAHA). The Frenchman had taken over at the front earlier in the session but concluded it 0.159s behind the Italian rookie. Third went to Cluzel’s teammate Corentin Perolari, who at one point set a completely identical lap time to Locatelli. 2018 Portimao winner Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was a strong fourth, whilst South Africa’s Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing) starred in fifth.

Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) made it three manufacturers in contention for the top six, edging out Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing). Philipp Oettl (Puccetti Kawasaki Racing) made his round debut at the Portimao circuit and was eighth, fractionally in front of Estonia’s Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) and Hungary’s Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth), who completed the top ten.

Find the top six from FP1 below, full results here!

1. Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team)
2. Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.159
3. Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.459
4. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.499
5. Steven Odeendal (EAB Ten Kate Racing) +0.813
6. Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +0.900

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