Jonathan Rea Takes Race 2 and the 2017 Manufacturer World Title for Kawasaki; Marco Garcia is WorldSSP300 World Champion, While Michael Rinaldi Wins the FIM Superstock 1000 European Championship

After Winning the Rider and Team Title, the manufacturer from Akashi also Takes the WorldSBK and the STK1000 Class Manufacturer Title, While Yamaha Takes the Title for both Supersport Classes. Promising Young Asian Star Galang Hendra Wins the WorldSSP300 Race

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain –The Circuito de Velocidad of Jerez de la Frontera was the backdrop for the allocation of more world championship titles after the one already earned in Magny-Cours by Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea astride his Kawasaki.

These include the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship Manufacturer World Champion Title, which, thanks in part to Jonathan Rea’s double win this weekend, was won for the third time in a row by Kawasaki.

The championship confirms the Akashi-based manufacturer as the undisputed leader of the factory Championship, having already earned the rider title for 2017 with Rea and the team title with the Kawasaki Racing Team.

The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship, in its debut year, has its first World Champion with Spaniard Marc García who, with his team Halcourier Racing Yamaha YZF-R3, earns his first international recognition after collecting two wins, two second place finishes and one third place over the course of the year.

Noteworthy was the performance of another Yamaha rider, eighteen year-old Indonesian Galang Hendra Pratama, who won the Spanish race in his second time participating in the WorldSSP300 Championship as a wild card after the Portimão race last month. Pratama demonstrated that he is a rising talent on the international motorcycle racing scene.

Thanks in part to the performance of Italian rider Alfonso Coppola, second in the overall championship standings, Yamaha confirms their status as the first manufacturer to earn the manufacturer title in this class, demonstrating that the small YZF-R3 has all the tools to set the pace in this new entry class.

The manufacturer from Iwata has also mathematically already won the WorldSSP300 manufacturer title where Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) is just a shout from earning the 2017 World Champion title.

Also celebrated was the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship title, won by Italian Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team), who finished the race in sixth place, a result that will be enough to crown him champion with a 10-point advantage over Turkish Kawasaki rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing).

However, Ducati was unable to win the manufacturer title for the category, which went instead to Kawasaki.

The results were positive for Pirelli this race weekend: in the smaller classes, despite the particularly demanding new asphalt, the standard solutions performed respectably, even allowing the riders to set new track records. In the factory derivative premier class, the undisputed protagonist was the soft rear solution, whereas on the front, no less than three options finished on the podium.

Race 2 of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship started at 1:00 PM local time on Sunday with a total of 22 laps to race. Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) started from pole position by virtue of his fourth place finish in Race 1.

On the first lap, an accident involving Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies forced race direction to red flag the race and announce the Quick Restart procedure, reducing the number of laps to 19.

On the restart, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took the race lead with Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) behind him at a distance and, in third position, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).

During the fourth lap, Chaz Davies overtook his teammate to snatch third from him and on the following lap he also managed to get the better of Michael Van Der Mark who went a bit wide on a corner.

On the penultimate lap, Marco Melandri overtook his teammate, battling for second place in the overall championship standings, to move into second place.

In Race 2, it was once again Jonathan Rea crossing the line ahead of the Ducati’s ridden by Melandri and Davies and Alex Lowes’ Yamaha. The fifth place finish by his teammate Tom Sykes lets Kawasaki celebrate the 2017 Manufacturer World Championship Title.

WorldSBK Race 2 Standings:

1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)

2) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)

3) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)

4) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)

5) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

6) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)

7) X. Forés (BARNI Racing Team)

8) S. Guintoli (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

9) L. Mercado (IODARacing)

10) J. Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team)

11) R. Ramos (Team Kawasaki GoEleven)

12) L. Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)

13) R. De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team)

14) A. Andreozzi (Guandalini Racing)

15) T. Takahashi (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)

16) R. Russo (Pedercini Racing SC-Project)

17) D. Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)

18) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia)

RT) O. Jezek (Grillini Racing Team)

RT) E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia)

RT) D. Schmitter (eighty one HPC-Power Suzuki Racing)

The FIM Supersport World Championship race started at 11:30 AM local time on Sunday with 19 laps to race and Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) in pole position.

The Italian Yamaha rider started well and managed to maintain the race lead, but was trailed closely by Jules Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda) who, starting from the second spot on the grid did not let the Italian run away at the front. Behind them were Patrick Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and the Championship leader Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team).

During the eighth lap, Anthony West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) snatched fourth place when he overtook Mahias. On the fourteenth lap, the Australian rider also managed to get the better of Patrick Jacobsen, thereby moving into a podium position.

During the final lap, Cluzel gave it his all in a last ditch attempt at the top step of the podium, but Caricasulo managed to defend well and crossed the finish first ahead of Cluzel and an outstanding Anthony West.

With Mahias’ fifth place finish, he has nearly clinched the title of FIM World Supersport Champion but, even with a 20 point advantage over Sofuoglu in the overall standings, he can still not be crowned mathematically until it is certain whether or not the Turkish Kawasaki rider will participate in the last round in Qatar.

WorldSSP Standings:

1) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team)

2) J. Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda)

3) A. West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

4) P. Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)

5) L. Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team)

6) S. Morais (Kallio Racing)

7) N. Tuuli (Kallio Racing)

8) R. Hartog (Team Hartog – Jenik – Against Cancer)

9) G. Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven)

10) C. Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing)

11) M. Canducci (3570 Puccetti Racing FMI)

12) A. Zaccone (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)

13) H. Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)

14) A. Bassani (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

15) H. Soomer (WILSport Racedays)

16) C. Bergman (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)

17) L. Zanetti (Team Factory Vamag)

18) L. Stapleford (Profile Racing)

19) Z. Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura)

20) M. Pons (DS Junior Team)

21) J. Van Sikkelerus (MVR Racing)

22) K. Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven)

23) X. Cardelus (Race Department ATK#25)

24) L. Epis (Response RE Racing)

25) G. Scarcella (GEMAR Team Lorin)

RT) K. Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini)

RT) P. Sebestyén (SSP Hungary by Pedercini Racing)

RT) M. Scheib (DR7 AMR)

RT) N. Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura)

RT) A. Baldolini (Race Department ATK#25)

RT) S. Hill (Profile Racing)

The last race of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was rather heated, with Marc García (Halcourier Racing) and Italian Alfonso Coppola (SK Racing) battling it out down to the end for the world title of this new entry category in the factory derivative Championship.

For all 11 laps of the race, the two young riders engaged in battle, putting on a show overtaking one another several times for the race lead. In the end it was the Spaniard García who won out, crossing the finish line fourth, just behind Italian Coppola to become the first FIM Supersport 300 World Champion.

The race was won by the promising young Asian motorcycle racer Galang Hendra (Team MOTOXRACING), another Yamaha rider who participated in the race as a wild card.

The FIM Superstock1000 European Championship closed out the weekend with a win by wild card Markus Reiterberger (Van Zon Remeha BMW) ahead of Illia Mykhalchyk (TripleM Racing) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). With his sixth place race finish, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) was crowned Champion.

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for WorldSBK Race 2 and WorldSSP:

The weather conditions for WorldSBK Race 2 were quite similar to those in Race 1, so on the rear all of the riders once again chose the softest solution, namely the W0576 SC0 development tire (option A).

As for the front, some riders opted instead to change the solution used in Race 1, mostly in favor of the V0952 SC1 development tire (option B) that was also the most used in Race 2 and throughout the entire weekend.

In WorldSSP, the riders used almost exclusively standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa tires. In particular, on the rear the most popular solution was the standard SC0 (option A), whereas on the front it was the standard SC1 (option A).

Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2:

Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP race:

Number of tires available for each WorldSSP rider: 59, including 31 front and 28 rear