More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Aegerter claims hard-fought Race 1 win, Baldassarri battles to second
The Reigning WorldSSP Champion claimed his 11th win of the season to extend his lead in the standings
Race 1 highlights – WorldSSP
* The race was red flagged just as Lap 2 of the original race started to allow recovery of Peter Sebestyen’s (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) bike after he crashed at Turn 1 on the opening lap. The red flag was deployed as marshals needed time to clear the bike and fluids. The restarted race was reduced to a distance of 12 laps.
P1 – Dominique Aegerter (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team)
Aegerter claimed his 11th win of 2022, winning by more than four seconds. He is now one win short of Locatelli’s record from 2020.
It’s also the 11th hat-trick with pole position, win and the fastest lap.
He extended his Championship lead to 24 points over Baldassarri.
“Fantastic day. We are very fast. Yesterday we were already one second faster than second place. This morning I made a 1’43s around here in Barcelona, a new lap record. The race started well. Then we had a red flag, and the race was shortened to 12 laps. The second start, I was struggling a bit in the first two laps and then I could make my pace going in front, take a lead with 2 or 3 seconds. The 12 laps were quite fast in the end. We were really lucky with the weather on Friday and Saturday. We will see tomorrow; it looks again a little bit strange. It’s nice to finish the race in first position. Our goal was again to finish in front of Baldassarri, we take again five points more. It’s very important.”
P2 – Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team)
Baldassarri took second place in Race 1 making a pass at Turn 1 on Lap 12, claiming his 13th podium of the season.
“I have to be happy today. It was a bit bitter because when Domi escaped, I wasn’t there because I made a mistake in Turn 1. Everyone was braking very hard and when I arrived, the bike was not stop turning. I went wide. I’m happy because I could manage the race very well after this morning’s crash. I was struggling with breathing because the crash was very strong on my back, so thankful all is okay. It was fun. At that moment we were fighting, Domi was escaping. When I saw that, if Domi escapes, I can’t go to catch him because he is faster and catching him means two much risk. I wanted to manage the tyre to win my battle for second position.”
P3 – Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
Oncu finished in third place, claiming his first podium since Assen 2022.
He now stands in fourth place in the Championship standings and is 17 points behind Bulega.
“Incredible Saturday! I feel really happy! Thanks to my team and those who support me! It’s the first time we found the confidence back, so it makes me very happy. It was a very difficult time and I’m very happy to find myself back. I want to continue like that. I tried to follow Aegerter, but it was impossible today. I saw Baldassarri was 0.4s in front and I said that if I can hold the gap, then I can fight. I let Caricasulo and Baldassarri pass me and I tried to pass them back, but it was difficult because the Ducati in very strong in the straight. I took Baldassarri’s slipstream when he passed Caricasulo. In the last lap, I braked hard and I passed Caricasulo. I tried to also pass Baldassarri, but it was not possible. This is the result for today, we started second and lost one position. At least it’s a podium and it’s many points.”
Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) was fighting at the front in the early stages of the race but dropped down the order to finish in fourth. Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) claimed a joint career-best fifth place in Race 1 finishing just 0.840s behind Caricasulo and 0.425s ahead of teammate Niki Tuuli in sixth. With MV Agusta in fifth and sixth, four of the five manufacturers in 2022 were represented in the top five.
On Lap 5, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) crashed at Turn 8 and, despite his best efforts to save it, retired from the race.
WorldSSP resumes on Sunday from 9:25 (Local Time) followed by Race 2 at 12:45.
