WSBK Supersport Portimão FP1: González narrowly ahead of Cluzel

The young Spanish driver set the best time at the end of the first free practice session, ahead of Frenchman Jules Cluzel and Italian Federico Caricasulo.

The tenth round of the Supersport season opened shortly after midday in Portimão, in the Algarve region of Portugal. Under bright sunshine, the drivers in the category benefited from the first 45 minutes of driving to get their bearings on the Lusitanian route, generally prey to very windy conditions due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean.

The situation in the championship is leaning more and more in favor of Dominique Aegerter, who totals 62 points ahead of Steven Odendaal with only three rounds remaining (this one in Portugal, as well as in Argentina). and Indonesia later this year).

Upcoming battle between Öttl and González

Suffice to say that the days are numbered and that it will be very difficult for the South African to hope to pocket the title this season. The interest of this weekend should therefore logically refocus on the fight for third place in the championship between Philipp Öttl and Manuel González.

Both men were in the mix during the last round in Jerez, with an advantage for the German driver who finished second in the last race in Andalusia, behind Aegerter. However, only one point separates the two men, who should thus engage in a new Homeric battle in the coming days in Portugal.

 

 

But the good surprise of this first free practice session was Jules Cluzel who reserved it for us. The Frenchman returned from injury after having to withdraw from Catalonia, and performed well upon his return to competition last week in Jerez, where he constantly moved around tenth position.

But it is clear that the Frenchman took advantage of the few days between the two rounds to complete his recovery, and thus showed himself to be devilishly fast during these FP1. The Auvergnat thus held control of the session for a long time, almost half a second ahead, before having to cede it to González.

Fire starts on Krummenacher's motorcycle

This first free practice session was also interrupted by the mechanical problem that occurred on Randy Krummenacher's Yamaha R6 in the first minutes. The Swiss, World Champion in the category in 2019, and who returned to victory in Catalonia two weeks ago, was in fact the victim of a fire on his machine, which forced the Race Direction to come out the red flag and interrupt the session for a good quarter of an hour. The Swiss then tried to restart, only to find himself in trouble again after a few turns.

In the ranking, behind González and Cluzel we find the Italian Federico Caricasulo, followed by Odendaal and Can Öncü. Öttl finished these FP1s in sixth place, ahead of Raffaele de Rosa and Aegerter. The top 10 is completed by Yari Montella, victim of a fall at the end of the session, as well as Peter Sebestyen.

 

Supersport Portimão – FP1:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com