WSBK Supersport Donington FP1: Ducati attacks, Jules Cluzel resists!

The fifth of 5 rounds of the Supersport World Championship takes place this weekend at Donington Park, a venue that the FIM Supersport World Championship has not visited for three years.

The reigning Champion, Dominique Aegerter, arrives with 54 points ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) but never raced there with his Yamaha YZF R6 from the Ten Kate Racing Yamaha team, although the Swiss had already raced there in 2009 in the 125cc World Championship. Will this be enough to put him in danger? The spearhead of the Dutch team, who went to train at Magny-Cours in preparation for the French round, however appears relatively serene.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) is second in the Championship, 37 points ahead Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team). Both will experience Donington Park after battling for victory last time out at Misano, but will again look to oppose the man who has now won seven of eight races in 2022, and finished on the podium in each. 'they.

Top 15 in the world championship rankings:

1. DOMINIQUE AEGERTER, 195, YAMAHA
2. LORENZO BALDASSARRI, 141, YAMAHA
3. NICOLÒ BULEGA, 104, DUCATI
4. CAN ÖNCÜ, 80, KAWASAKI
5. GLENN VAN STRAALEN, 63, YAMAHA
6. YARI MONTELLA, 62, KAWASAKI
7. STEFANO MANZI, 51, TRIUMPH
8. FEDERICO CARICASULO, 44, DUCATI
9. HANNES SOOMER, 44, TRIUMPH
10. ADRIAN HUERTAS, 41, KAWASAKI
11. NIKI TUULI, 40, MV AGUSTA
12. JULES CLUZEL, 39, YAMAHA
13. KYLE SMITH, 33, YAMAHA
14. OLIVER BAYLISS, 21, DUCATI
15. RAFFAELE DE ROSA, 21, DUCATI

 

The expected temperatures will be exceptionally high this weekend, around 33° on Sunday, on a very technical circuit with two diametrically opposed parts: a series of fast curves between turns #1 and #8, then a much less fluid layout for #9 , #10 and #11. A headache for the engineers who will have to refine the settings over the sessions…

 

 

For this first 45-minute free practice session, the sky is rather overcast, the wind is present and temperatures are announced at 20° in the air and 29° on the ground.

When the red lights go out, Lorenzo Baldassarri rushes first in front Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing).

 

The latter sets the first benchmark in 1'36.031 but is immediately surpassed by Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph) then Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in 1'34.225.

The times go down quickly and Hannes Soomer regains the advantage in 1'32.792, half a second ahead of the French driver.

After 10 minutes, and after having warmed up a little, Dominique Aegerter made his arrival in the top 2 while Federico Caricasulo et Lorenzo Baldassarri complete the top 5.

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura WorldSSP) and Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) come to join the fight but it's Dominique Aegerter who achieved the best time a little before the end of the first quarter of an hour, in 1'32.520.

The Swiss driver then drove the point home in 1'32.454 then 1'32.147, relegating the Estonian's Triumph Street Triple RS to almost 4/10.

Midway through the session, Jules cluzel is 6th at 6/10, Andy Verdoïa 15th at 1,5 seconds, while Hannes Soomer regained command in 1'32.000.

The session is then interrupted at the red flag due to the fall of Patrick Hobelsberger in the sequence 9-10.

 

The hierarchy of the top 10 is then composed of Hannes Soomer, Dominique Aegerter, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team), Kyle Smith (VFT Racing), Jules Cluzel, Raffaele De Rosa, Federico Caricasulo, Can Öncü and Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt-Triumph).

The interruption does not last long and the session resumes for 19 minutes.

Andy Verdoïa moved up to 11th position while his teammate Jules cluzel provisionally takes third place behind Lorenzo Baldassarri et Hannes Soomer. At this point in the session, the first three are less than a 10th of a second away!

Less than 10 minutes from the checkered flag, Federico Caricasulo seizes the leadership in 1'31.681 before entrusting it to another Ducati, that of Raffaele De Rosa in 1'31.499.

 

More Jules cluzel do not give up in the face of this offensive from Borgo Panigale, and snatch the second time at the last minute, 21/1000 from the lead!

 

The rebound of GMT 94 is also materialized by the ninth place ofAndy Verdoïa.

 

FP1 Supersport results at Donington Park:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com