2018 San Juan Villicum World Supersport Race Result: Rain Cleaned Track Overnight

The first World Supersport race at the Circuito San Juan Villicum was nineteen laps of the four thousand two hundred and seventy six metre track and could help define who would be crowned champion. Rain overnight cleaned the track and left before it became a problem.

The race started with the French pair of pole-sitter Lucas Mahias and second-row Jules Cluzel swapping places in turns one and two while Corentin Perolari and Federico Caricasulo had a coming together with Caricasulo coming worse off as they tried to share a bit of track, ending Caricasulo's race and any hopes he had of a championship challenge. Jules Cluzel, Lucas Mahias and Corentin Perolari were in a breakaway group almost a second clear of Sandro Cortese, Kyle Smith and Thomas Gradinger, and while Perolari tried unsuccessfully to find a way past Mahias at the front, Gradinger succeeded in making a pass on Smith stick for fifth place. On lap two, the lap record was set by Cluzel, Cortese and Gradinger, and the leading group of three was caught by the second group and a lap later, after Randy Krummenacher took his turn at setting the lap record, they became eight riders. On lap four, Perolari set the lap record, trying again to look past Mahias at the end of the kilometre-long straight, and the leading three had another gap for a lap only for Cortese to catch them back up, the German finally escaping the fight for fifth place.

On lap six, the leading four riders were together again after Sandro Cortese set the lap record catching the three Frenchmen in front of him as Thomas Gradinger couldn't keep up, in spite of his escaping the battle between Kyle Smith and a resurgent Randy Krummenacher. Sandro Cortese had the fastest bike down the long straight and he neatly passed Corentin Perolari and tucked back in line before the corner. 

Lucas Mahias set the lap record on lap eight and Sandro Cortese broke it on lap nine but Corentin Perolari couldn't keep up, dropping off the podium battle and being caught by Thomas Gradinger very quickly. A few laps later, as Jules Cluzel, Lucas Mahias and Sandro Cortese kept up their pace at the front, Gradinger made use of the slipstream down the back straight to take fourth place. A lap later, Cortese set the lap record again. Two more laps and Cluzel took it back. 

On lap fifteen of nineteen, on his way to setting the lap record again, Sandro Cortese tidily passed Lucas Mahias for second place and into the wake of his closest title contender. As Cluzel tried to escape, Cortese set two more lap records  and the pair finally broke free of third-placed Lucas Mahias. 

On the last lap, Sandro Cortese, after trying to pass Jules Cluzel time and time again, tried to make his habitual pass on the back straight, but Cluzel was just a tad quicker through the corners before the straight and Cortese couldn't get into his clean air enough to have the speed to close the gap and pass him, and the next few sections were too narrow for any passing attempts. Cluzel played his tyres perfectly and didn't give Cortese any chances to get past.

Jules Cluzel beat Sandro Cortese with Lucas Mahias a couple of seconds behind rounding out the podium. Thomas Gradinger had a lonely fourth place but fifth place was hard-fought, with Corentin Perolari and Randy Krummenacher crossing the line next to each other, but Krummenacher's late charge wasn't enough to take fifth place off Perolari.

Sandro Cortese heads to the last round in Qatar with a six point lead over Jules Cluzel, the pair the only riders capable of winning the title. Lucas Mahias's third place moved him back up to fourth place, fifteen points behind Randy Krummenacher and three points ahead of the non-finisher Federico Caricasulo. Raffaele De Rosa suffered a mechanical DNF on lap six and dropped to sixth place in the championship.

Results: