FIM Supersport World Championship
Algarve International Circuit
Portimao, Portugal
June 7, 2015
Race Results (all using Pirelli tires):
1. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), 18 laps, 31:54.954
2. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -0.184 second
3. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Honda CBR600RR), -7.597 seconds
4. Gino REA, UK (Honda CBR600RR), -8.369
5. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), -12.451
6. Kyle SMITH, UK (Honda CBR600RR), -13.059
7. Christian GAMARINO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -19.976
8. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -20.355
9. Martin CARDENAS, Colombia (Honda CBR600RR), -32.141
10. Fabio MENGHI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), -35.078
World Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 12 races):
1. Sofuoglu, 150 points
2. Cluzel, 110
3. Jacobsen, 95
4. Zanetti, 81
5. Rea, 67
6. Smith, 56
7. Rolfo, 54
8. Ratthapark Wilairot, 46
9. Faccani, 36
10. Baldolini, 33
12. Cardenas, 30
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Cluzel returns to winning ways at Portimao
Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) won this afternoon’s World Supersport race withstanding incredible pressure from championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, who found himself in fifth on lap one, before slowly making his way forward and overtaking the Frenchman on tour number twelve.
The Frenchman retook the lead at the start of the last lap as the two riders exchanged position twice again, before Cluzel pulled away to win by 0.184s. This is Cluzel’s win number nine in the series, his second in 2015 after the one taken in the opening round at Phillip Island. With seven events completed out of twelve, the MV Agusta rider is now 40 points shy of the lead.
PJ Jacobsen backed up his strong debut qualifying performance with his new team (CORE’’ Motorsport Thailand Honda) to take the final place on the podium. The American was in contention for the lead in the early stages before gradually losing ground from lap 8 onwards.
Gino Rea (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) missed out on the podium by 0.7s taking fourth ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team).
Christian Gamarino (Team GO Eleven), Roberto Rolfo (Lorini Honda), Martin Cardenas (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) and Fabio Menghi (VFT Racing) completed the top ten.
More, from a press release issued by CIA Landlords Insurance Honda:
Fabulous fourth for Gino in Portugal
CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA’S Gino Rea took a fantastic fourth at the seventh round of the World Supersport Championship at Parkalgar in Portugal, less than a second from the final podium place.
Gino said: “I enjoyed that race and was catching up with Jacobsen towards the end. I was able to push hard and had plenty of confidence in my CIA Landlords Insurance Honda – it was super to be closing in on the podium in the last laps and it shows our potential. We will start from this position at Misano and see if we can get back on the box.”
Martin Cardenas battled for the top 10 the whole race and took a good ninth place. Riccardo Russo failed to finish when he clashed with another rider on the third lap but is unhurt.
Miguel Praia, stepping in for the injured Kieran Clarke, took a superb 15th place point scoring finish in the last international race of his career.
The eighth round of the World Supersport Championship is at Misano in Italy on 21st June.
CIA Landlords Insurance Honda Team Manager Simon Buckmaster said: “For me it was a good strong ride by Gino. It is a shame he got caught behind Kyle Smith at the start as he might have had the chance to challenge Jacobsen for the podium if he’d got past quicker.
“This is Gino’s strongest ride since Australia. Considering his on-going foot injury we will continue from here and make the best result we can in Misano. After that we have a longer gap to allow Gino’s foot to heal further.
“Martin made a couple of mistakes and lost touch with the group in front. Once that happened ninth was the best he could finish and he rode well to achieve it.
“It is great to see Miguel get a point on his farewell international ride. It’d been really good working with him and Parkalgar’s Paulo Pinheiro again, and to be part of this great round of the Championship.
“Ricky had a coming together with Kevin Wahr and that is a shame as he would have had a chance to challenge for a top 10 result.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Second Place In Portugal For Championship Leader Sofuoglu
Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was in contention for the race win until the last lap of the FIM Supersport World Championship race at Portimao today, but in taking second place he leaves with a 40-point series lead.
Kenan and eventual winner by only 0.184 seconds, Jules Cluzel, were locked together in a battle on the final lap after Sofuoglu had taken the lead. After losing some time on the final tour of the 4.592km circuit, Sofuoglu accepted second place rather than go for a risky attempted pass on the fast final right hand corners.
The next Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R rider in the race order was Christian Gamarino (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) who was a strong seventh, his best result of the season. He is now 11th in the rankings, with 31 points.
Marco Faccani (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) had to settle for 12th today but is still inside the top ten in the championship, with 36 points in ninth position overall.
Dominic Schmitter (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) scored two points for 14th place at a warm Portimao.
Kenan Sofuoglu: “Second was not too bad because this race was not going to be easy because in all the sessions Jules was strong. In the race I saw he was not too fast so I attacked but in the meantime the tyre grip had dropped. When I passed him I was sliding in the corners and I thought, “OK, if we can win we will win, but if not no problem, I will take the 20 points.” Our goal is to take the title. On the last lap when he attacked me I answered him back but later he made a mistake, missed the line and I had to push the brake mid corner. Then there was a small gap and it was impossible to attack again. We are in a good place in the championship so we have to be clever to stay on the bike and make maximum points to take the title. This is our main goal so I am happy for today’s result.”
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:
Smith sixth in Portuguese Supersport encounter
Pata Honda’s Kyle Smith finished sixth in today’s seventh-round World Supersport championship race at Portimao in Portugal with France’s Jules Cluzel taking victory.
After qualifying fourth fastest, Smith was confident that cooler temperatures for today’s 18-lap race would give him a better feeling in the front of his Pata Honda CBR600RR. Indeed, the 23-year-old British rider enjoyed a great start and was second into the first corner at the 4.592km Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.
However, Smith was unable to maintain his early pace and slipped back, eventually settling into sixth place behind fellow Honda riders PJ Jacobsen and Gino Rea for 10 points at the flag, maintaining his sixth place in the points table.
Kyle Smith – 6th
After crashing in the last two races, finishing here is positive and sixth place will have to do this time. We were undecided between two tyres and went for the one that we knew would allow me to go a bit quicker but we weren’t sure it would hold out for the whole race. For the first eight laps it felt good but after that the grip dropped massively. On corner exit it was spinning up a bit, but that was OK. On corner entry it just felt like the rear wanted to overtake me so I had to brake really gently and I dropped back to sixth. It’s not what we were hoping for but we’ll take the positives from finishing the race. I think we still have the potential to be in a better position than we’ve been in this weekend, but we just have to dial everything in.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
Kyle got a good start and then he settled into fourth place for a while. Unfortunately, in the second half of the race the rear grip dropped as it usually does, but he suffered from a lack of rear grip on corner entry and in the end he got sixth. We’ll have to check, but this indicates that the balance of the bike on used tyres may not have been perfect. It’s an OK result even though when you’re in fourth place you’re hoping for third and not sixth. Maybe a better balance would have helped but we had a solid finish which we’ll learn from and take that to the next round.