[Supersport] Sandro Cortese takes the lead of the World Championship ahead of Jules Cluzel at Donington

Jules Cluzel and Lucas Mahias started from the first starting line with Sandro Cortese, all on R6. The second row presented more varied equipment with the Yamaha of Randy Krummenacher (Championship leader), the Kawasaki of Hikari Okubo and the MV Agusta of Raffaele de Rosa.

It was the first race without Kenan Sofuoglu in a long time. The Turk left the Supersport World Championship during the last round held in Imola.

On the other hand, Frenchman Corentin Pérolari made his appearance on the GMT94 Yamaha, which he had already ridden in Aragon. This R6 had been used at the start of the Championship by Mike di Meglio, who then preferred to give up due to the limited competitiveness of the bike at the time. Pérolari was there to stand out, alongside his performances on the TransFIORmers in Moto2, and he achieved the twentieth qualifying time out of a total of 27 riders present, while he was discovering the Donington circuit.

At the start, the fastest was Jules Cluzel ahead of Sandro Cortese, Raffaele de Rosa and Lucas Mahias. Corentin Perolari was eighteenth in the first corner. Cluzel opened up a small gap of 0.7, but Cortese joined him, while de Rosa was at 1.3 and Mahias at 2.5.

Cluzel led 17 laps to the checkered flag, closely followed by Cortese and de Rosa, while Mahias fourth at 2.8 ahead of Krummenacher at 3.2. Hikaro Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti) fell without seriousness.

Jules Cluzel continued at a very steady pace, and only Sandro Cortese managed to follow him. Raffaele de Rosa brought the first MV Agusta into third position at 1.0, while Lucas Mahias fourth was already at 3.8 and Randy Krummenacher at 4.0 ahead of Federico Caricasulo.

With 12 laps to go, Cortese took the lead by overtaking Cluzel, in a somewhat brutal manner, for which he apologized.

At mid-race, Cortese, Cluzel and de Rosa were fighting for first position, while 4 seconds behind Krummenacher tried to resist Mahias and Caricasulo. Pérolari was seventeenth at 21 seconds. Thirteenth-placed Rob Hartog led the European Cup competitors.

With 7 laps remaining, Mahias moved to fourth, overtaking World Championship leader Randy Krummenacher. Pérolari got into the points in fifteenth position. Rob Hartog fell without seriousness in turn 3.

With 5 laps remaining, Cluzel found himself third behind Cortese and de Rosa. Mahias 3.8 further ahead of Krummenacher and Caricasulo. Cluzel returned to second two laps from the end, passing Rosa. He was 1.3 behind leader Cortese.

Cortese won 1.3 ahead of Cluzel and 2.6 ahead of de Rosa, while Krummenacher was 4.6 ahead of Mahias and Caricasulo. Pérolari finished fifteenth.

Cortese therefore took command of the provisional ranking of the World Championship, ahead of Cluzel, Krummenacher and Mahias.

Race results:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Sandra Cortese

Photos copyright worlsbk.com / DornaTV