FIM Supersport World Championship

Motorland Aragon, Spain

April 13, 2014

Race Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 15 laps, 30:43.276

2. Michael VD MARK, Netherlands (Honda CBR600RR), -0.869 second

3. Florian MARINO, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -9.091 seconds

4. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -10.475

5. Kev COGHLAN, UK (Yamaha YZF-R6), -15.194, crash

6. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -18.579

7. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -19.059

8. Vladimir LEONOV, Russia (MV Agusta F3 675), -19.666

9. Christian GAMARINO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -19.846

10. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (Honda CBR600RR), -20.077

14. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -28.843

21. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), -4 laps, DNF, crash

World Championship Point Standings (after 2 of 12 races):

1. Coghlan, 31

2. Marino, 29

3. De Rosa, 26

4. TIE, Sofuoglu/Cluzel, 25

6. TIE, VD Mark/Tamburini, 20

8. TIE, Zanetti/Gamarino, 13

10. Wahr, 10

21. TIE, Jacobsen/Bussolotti, 2

More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Supersport Team:

Pata Honda’s season back on track at Aragon

Pata Honda rider Michael van der Mark put right his no-score at the opening World Supersport championship round in Australia by finishing second in today’s second-round race at Aragon in Spain.

The race was won by Kenan Sofuoglu, with van der Mark’s Pata Honda team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti also getting his season started with a fourth place finish after injury prevented his own participation in the opening race at Phillip Island six weeks ago.

Van der Mark got a great start to today’s 15-lap race at the 5.344km Motorland circuit two hours west of Barcelona and led for six of the early laps before out-braking himself at the circuit’s infamous hairpin. The Dutch rider composed himself after the two leading riders crashed out on the penultimate lap to cross the line just 0.8s behind Sofuoglu.

Zanetti aso benefitted from the crash further up the field but the Italian had battled throughout the race to stay on terms with the leading group after an early mistake looked to have left him out of touch.

The Pata Honda team now moves to round three at its and van der Mark’s home round at Assen in the Netherlands in two weeks.

Michael van der Mark – 2nd

I’m really happy with this result. We’ve been working all weekend to fix some strange problems and then this morning we found that our race pace was quite good. My start wasn’t great but I could see I was faster than the guys in front so I caught them step-by-step and tried to pull away after I got past. I felt the gap wasn’t that big and I tried to keep pushing. I made a small mistake at the hairpin and they passed me and I lost some contact after a couple of other mistakes. After Jules [Cluzel] and Kev [Coghlan] crashed, there was just me and Kenan [Sofuoglu] left. I couldn’t get any closer to him but I’m really happy after zero points in the first race.

Lorenzo Zanetti – 4th

I’m happy to come back to racing with this result. I started not too bad and was immediately with the leading group. My strategy was to stay with them, not to fight and get into a good rhythm and that was going OK until I made a mistake. It changed the rhythm a bit and when Cluzel and Coghlan crashed I tried to pressurise Marino but he pushed a bit more. Fourth place is not so bad for my condition but I need to work now on podium finishes. I finished too many times in fourth place last year so it’s necessary to go to the next step. The target is the podium!

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Both riders got a good start and Mikey went to the front after a few laps. He managed to open a gap but a small mistake dropped him back. We were a bit lucky because the two front riders crashed and he came in behind Sofuoglu. But second place after Phillip Island is really good. He takes a good feeling to Assen, too. Lorenzo was also aggressive from the start, with the leading group, in a battle for fourth. He got gapped after a small mistake and spent the rest of the race on his own. But it was a good day for Supersport and now we look forward to a busy home round for the team.