2018 Motorland Aragon World Supersport Race Results: Great Starts

Sixteen laps around the five kilometre track of Motorland Aragon, with Yamahas having a clear advantage, World Supersport took place under a clear day with none of the weather issues of Friday.

Raffaele De Rosa got an exceptional start from the second row, charging his MV Agusta past the three Yamahas on the front row to take the lead ahead of an equally quick Jules Cluzel. Lucas Mahias, Sandro Cortese and Federico Caricasulo followed the second row hares throughout most of the first lap.

At the entrance to the long straight, on the exit to the turn fourteen and fifteen chicane, Jules Cluzel overtook Raffaele De Rosa at the start of the straight, Federico Caricasulo passed into turn 16, while Lucas Mahias and Sandro Cortese got past him around turn seventeen, the second half of the two-corner last corner. De Rosa started lap two in fifth place. 

On lap two, Randy Krummenacher, after a poor start, set the fastest lap behind sixth-placed Sheridan Morais. Krummenacher then dropped his bike on lap four, picked it up and recovered in twenty-sixth place. Meanwhile, Cortese and Caricasulo swapped back and forth, fighting over second place while Mahias did the same with De Rosa.

Jules Cluzel maintained the lead until midway through lap seven, when Sandro Cortese cleanly passed him and tried to escape at the front. A lap later, De Rosa's MV Agusta amongst the Yamahas run came to an end when his bike let the magic go-fast smoke escape from the engine and he coasted off the track, ending his weekend.

Federico Caricasulo climbed to second place and set the fastest lap on lap nine and Sandro Cortese set the fastest lap on lap ten, trying to escape the Italian behind him. As Cortese upped the pace, Caricasulo followed him and the pair started to ease away from Jules Cluzel and Lucas Mahias. 

On lap thirteen, Caricasulo tried to take the lead into turn one, but Cortese held on. A turn later, though, Caricasulo got past cleanly but Cortese remained glued to his tail until the straight where Cortese was close enough to slipstream past Caricasulo and take the lead back before the last corners. Caricasulo tried once more to pass at turn one, but Cortese had more grip left, held the lead and started to eke out a gap at the front. 

Jules Cluzel caught up with the flagging Caricasulo, but couldn't make any of his passing attempts work.

Sandro Cortese won his first race in World Supersport and his first win in five years in any class, and as the German national anthem rung out, everyone who doesn't follow MotoGP cried out "wait, he's not Italian?" in unison.

Federico Caricasulo and Jules Cluzel made up the remainder of the podium with Lucas Mahias a couple of seconds behind, his tyres not letting him keep up with the fight five laps from the end. Randy Krummenacher took advantage of a quick pace and other riders dropping out, to climb up to eleventh place and recover four points from a disastrous race. 

Mahias leads Cortese in the championship with Krummenacher's four points keeping him ahead of fourth-placed Caricasulo. 

Results: