The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship got underway with Free Practice 1 for the Hyundai N Catalunya Round as Turkish star Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) topped the timesheets at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to strike first ahead of the weekend’s two races, while Championship leader Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) crashed halfway through the session.

Sofuoglu put in a late lap to post a time of 1’55.815s to go top of the standings ahead of Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) in second, with the Dutchman another who left it until his last lap to move up into second place. Championship contender Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) was third, four tenths away from Sofuoglu’s time.

Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) claimed fourth place on a strong morning for the French rider, finishing ahead of wildcard entrant Alvaro Diaz Cebrian (Arco-Motor University Team) in fifth place on a strong showing on his first appearance of the season. Reigning Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) rounded out the top six.

Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing) claimed seventh place ahead of Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) in eighth place on a strong morning at his home round. Italian rider Mirko Gennai (Team BRcorse) was in ninth while Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki) rounded out the top ten. There was one second separating the top 16 in FP1, showing how close the Championship is.

Championship leader Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) and Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) had a coming together after Carrasco ran wide at Turn 9, with the 2018 Champion coming off her bike as it came across the track. Huertas was the rider behind Carrasco and tried to slow down to avoid Carrasco’s bike, but was unable to. Both riders were walking away from the accident, although it did cause a Red Flag so the marshals could recover their bikes. Huertas was classified in 13^th place while Carrasco did not set a lap time, with the incident occurring on her first flying lap with around 15 minutes left in the session.

Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300) had a difficult start to the session when he had a crash at the left-hander of Turn 5, with the French rider taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash. He was later declared unfit with a fracture of the right posterior malleolus. Harry Khouri (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) had a crash at Turn 10 but was able to re-join the session.

The top six following WorldSSP300 FP1, full results here:

1 Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) 1’55.815s

2. Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) +0.108s

3. Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) +0.390s

4. Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) +0.451s

5. Alvaro Diaz Cebrian (Arco-Motor University Team) +0.575s

6. Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) +0.612s

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