World Supersport's first flyaway race would start with Bradley Smith being demoted three places for holding up Dominique Aegerter. With the European championship wrapped up, there would be fewer starters than usual and the track was still a little dusty after the overnight sandstorm. The race would be nineteen laps with a long over one kilometre straight halfway round the track.
Federico Caricasulo led into turn two, inside Dominique Aegerter. Glenn van Straalen crashed out onto the back straight and the bike was cleared off the track in time to avoid a red flag.
Lorenzo Baldassarri had a bad start, struggling in eighth place. Raffaele De Rosa sat behind Caricasulo with Nicolo Bulega behind Dominique Aegerter to make it three Ducatis in the top four. Fifth-placed Niki Tuuli set the fastest lap, a 1'42.887, on lap two. Can Oncu had charged up to ninth place, behind Lorenzo Baldassarri and set a 1'42.270 fastest lap on lap three of nineteen.
Stefano Manzi took fifth place from Niki Tuuli on lap four and fourth from Nicolo Bulega on lap five. De Rosa used the long straight to pass Federico Caricasulo for the lead and Stefano Manzi took third place from Dominique Aegerter in the complex after the straight, setting a fastest lap of 1'42.238 in the process.
With clear track ahead of him, Raffaele De Rosa set a lap of 1'42.005 ahead of Federico Caricasulo. The leading pair were over a second clear of Stefano Manzi, Dominique Aegerter and Niki Tuuli. Aegerter took third place back into turn eight at the end of the long straight and stared down a long gap to the leading pair.
Over lap eight, Aegerter escaped from the fight between Manzi and Tuuli with Baldassarri catching them up. Aegerter set the fastest lap, a 1'41.851, as he reeled in the leaders. Caricasulo and De Rosa swapped places at the end of the long straight and De Rosa held the lead.
Nine laps in, past the halfway mark, as Stefano Manzi went wide and lost a few places, Raffaele De Rosa led Federico Caricasulo with Dominique Aegerter closing behind them. Niki Tuuli was a couple of seconds further back, fending off Can Oncu and Nicolo Bulega with Stefano Manzi struggling behind them.
Lap ten, Raffle De Rosa set the fastest lap, a lap record of 1'41.693, two tenths quicker than Caricasulo behind him. Lorenzo Baldassarri fought through Can Oncu and Niki Tuuli to take fourth place, three seconds behind Dominique Aegerter as Aegerter closed on second-placed Caricasulo.
Behind the top six, Stefano Manzi was in a lonely seventh place, with a second ahead of him and a second behind to a four way fight for eighth led by Yari Montella and Nicolo Bulega.
With five laps to go, Dominique Aegerter closed up to the Ducatis ahead of him and staring lap fifteen, he was less than half a second from second place and under a second from the lead. Five seconds behind, Can Oncu led Lorenzo Baldassarri and Niki Tuuli in the fight for fourth place. Tuuli and Baldassarri got track limit warnings as Tuuli took fifth place from Baldassarri.
Lap seventeen and Caricasulo missed his braking marker and ran on a little to let Aegerter pass him for second place. With two laps to go, Aegerter closed in on De Rosa as Lorenzo Baldassarri dropped back to ninth place missing turn eight at the end of the long straight. Aegerter clawed up to De Rosa to start the straight and hold on to take the lead into turn eight. Aegerter held his line and led by almost three tenths of a second over the line.
Dominique Aegerter pulled off a couple of incredible laps at the end of the race to beat Raffaele De Rosa with Federico Caricasulo on the last step of the podium over two seconds further back. Can Oncu, almost seven seconds off the win, took fourth place over two seconds from Niki Tuuli. Lorenzo Baldassarri finished in ninth place, not helping his championship hopes. Aegerter's strong last pair of laps denied Ducati their first win in almost two decades.
Dominique Aegerter extended his championship lead over Lorenzo Baldassarri to sixty three points, with Can Oncu consolidating his third place,
Five riders didn't finish the race and only two finished out of the points.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 77 | D. AEGERTER | Yamaha YZF R6 | |
2 | 3 | R. DE ROSA | Ducati Panigale V2 | 0.292 |
3 | 64 | F. CARICASULO | Ducati Panigale V2 | 2.205 |
4 | 61 | C. ONCU | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 4.486 |
5 | 66 | N. TUULI | MV Agusta F3 800 RR | 9.240 |
6 | 16 | J. CLUZEL | Yamaha YZF R6 | 11.945 |
7 | 62 | S. MANZI | Triumph Street Triple RS | 12.963 |
8 | 55 | Y. MONTELLA | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 0.544 |
9 | 7 | L. BALDASSARRI | Yamaha YZF R6 | 14.247 |
10 | 38 | H. SOOMER | Triumph Street Triple RS | 14.695 |
11 | 11 | N. BULEGA | Ducati Panigale V2 | 1.480 |
12 | 56 | P. SEBESTYEN | Yamaha YZF R6 | 0.416 |
13 | 69 | T. BOOTH-AMOS | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 2.821 |
14 | 57 | B. SMITH | Yamaha YZF R6 | 19.415 |
15 | 32 | O. BAYLISS | Ducati Panigale V2 | 8.503 |
16 | 50 | O. VOSTATEK | Yamaha YZF R6 | 40.614 |
17 | 52 | P. HOBELSBERGER | Yamaha YZF R6 | 10.118 |
RET | 91 | L. BERNARDI | Ducati Panigale V2 | 4 Laps |
RET | 99 | A. HUERTAS | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 6 Laps |
RET | 94 | A. VERDOIA | Yamaha YZF R6 | 7 Laps |
RET | 25 | M. BRENNER | Yamaha YZF R6 | 12 Laps |
RET | 28 | G. VAN STRAALEN | Yamaha YZF R6 |
Comments
Dusty
That was quite a race.
Dom Aegerter the patient winner and soon to be champion again. Fast & smart.
Balda tried after an ordinary start LB7 got up to 4th but never really looked like taking points off Domi 77.
Manzi looked good for a short while in third. And then...Triumph's chances slipping away for this year, sorry 'shrink. The triple did look very good at times in 2022. Even the MV has been fast at times. Definitely not the R6 cup anymore!
For Triumph and Oli Bayliss maybe next year will be better.
Not the best SSP race of the season
... but still pretty good. Lots of racecraft happening up front; be interesting to see how Domi and Balda get on in the big leagues next year. Good to see all the mfrs seem to have packages that are close enough to be threats up front.