The Hyundai N Catalunya Round got underway for the FIM Supersport World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) taking top honours despite a crash in the early stages of Free Practice 2 as he topped the times ahead of 2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher (CM Racing) by less than a tenth of a second.

IT’S CLOSE AT THE TOP

De Rosa left it late to move to the top of the times but posted a 1’45.687s to claim top spot after two 45-minute practice sessions to get the weekend underway, with De Rosa fending off the challenge from Krummenacher by just 0.067s. Krummenacher had a strong debut with his new team despite a crash at Turn 10 in FP2, finishing second in both sessions as well as the combined classification.  Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) had looked like he was going to take top spot but a flurry of late laps moved him down to third place, a tenth behind De Rosa.

South African rider Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team), who is looking to close the gap in the Championship with Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) absent this weekend due to a clash, was fourth. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) claimed fifth place in the combined standings but was fastest in the morning session, the first rider who did not improve his time in the afternoon. Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) claimed sixth spot, ensuring all three manufacturers on track were represented in the top six.

ROUNDING OUT THE TOP 15…

Just two weeks after his first podium finish last time out, Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was seventh after another strong performance despite a crash at Turn 10, while One Event rider Patrick Hobelsberger (Bonovo MGM Racing) was eighth as he returned to the Championship for the second time this season.

Andy Verdoïa (GMT94 Yamaha) was ninth as he returned to the scene of his dramatic win in 2020, and drama seems to follow the French rider around after a coming together with teammate Ludovic Cauchi at the end of the session going through Turn 10; both riders up on their feet following the collision. Cauchi finishes his debut in 30^th place. Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) rounded out the top ten with Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) in 11^th; the top 11 riders separated by just one second.

Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was 12^th place as he continued his return to WorldSSP action, with Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) in 13^th place. Kevin Manfredi (Altogo Racing Team) was the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge rider in 14^th place, beating Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing) by just 0.008s.

TO NOTE

Unai Orradre’s (Yamaha MS Racing) adjustment to WorldSSP continued with 17^th place, just ahead of Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) as he returned to the Championship in place of Krummenacher following his switch to CM Racing. Luigi Montella (Chiodo Moto Racing) was in 28^th place after a high-speed crash at Turn 14 in the closing stages of FP2 with the Italian was able to walk away from the incident.

Free Practice 1 was Red Flagged following an incident after Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) crashed at Turn 2, with Ondrej Vostatek (IXS-YART Yamaha) crashing at the same corner despite yellow flags being waved. Following the conclusion of FP1, Vostatek was sanctioned by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards for a yellow flag infringement and he has been disqualified from Race 1 and will start Race 2 from the pitlane.

The top six following WorldSSP action on Friday, full results here:

1 Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 1’45.620s

2. Randy Krummenacher (CM Racing) +0.067s

3. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) +0.109s

4. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +0.161s

5. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.278s

6. Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) +0.354s

Watch WorldSSP’s Tissot Superpole session at 10:25 Local Time (GMT+2) tomorrow using the WorldSBK VideoPass!