2021 Catalunya World Supersport Race Two Result: Under A Tenth Of A Second

Race Winner Andy Verdoia, winner here last year, will miss the eighteen lap race with an ankle injury. The rain stayed away this time, however, with 22ºC air temperature and 37ºC track temperature.

Manuel Gonzalez led Randy Krummenacher, Philipp Oettl and Steven Odendaal into turn one as riders took their places. Can Oncu and Niki Tuuli rounded out the top six. Can Oncu make one of his typical hard passes on Odendaal, dragging Niki Tuuli with him. Krummenacher led over the line and into turn one of lap two, but Manuel Gonzalez fought back for the lead. Oncu took third off Oettl, setting the fastest lap in the progress. 

Lap three, and Can Oncu surprised Randy Krummenacher into turn one, using his Kawasaki as a shovel once more, taking second place to jump the gap to Gonzalez in just a few turns. Out of the last turn, Oncu closed the distance and set the fastest lap again to hammer a wedge into turn one to take the lead from Manuel Gonzalez. Oncu led Gonzalez, Krummenacher and Tuuli, with three manufacturers represented in the leading four.

Lap five, and Can Oncu held the lead into turn one, with Manuel Gonzalez and Randy Krummenacher both under a tenth of a second off the leader, with Raffaele De Rosa, Niki Tuuli, Steven Odendaal and Philipp Oettl right behind them. Lap six, turn one, after getting a message to relax from his pit board, Oncu didn't relax and hit Krummenacher down the straight and lost a bit of time and three places. Manuel Gonzalez and Randy Krummenacher got past Oncu quickly and Raffaele De Rosa joined the leading duo, taking second place at the start of lap seven, although the leading trio were separated by only five thousandths off a second over the line.

The leading nine riders were all within striking distance of riders either side, with the leading trio covered by a tenth or two, but the group was split in two after Can Oncu crashed out. At the start of lap nine, Gonzalez, De Rosa and Krummenacher were covered by a quarter of a second, with Niki Tuuli, Steven Odendaal and Philipp Oettl making a second trio under a second behind them.

Can Oncu limped his bike back to the pits and looked dejected after a hard fight at the front.

At half race distance, Manuel Gonzalez, Raffaele De Rosa and Randy Krummenacher still led, with Niki Tuuli breaking free of Steven Odendaal and Philipp Oettl behind him. Tuuli started to close on the leading trio as Marcel Brenner joined into the fight between Steven Odendaal and Philipp Oettl. At the start of lap twelve of eighteen, Niki Tuuli closed to within six tenths of a second as De Rosa took the lead into turn four, but he couldn't break free of Manuel Gonzalez and the scrap allowed Tuuli to join right up with half a second covering the leading four riders over the line to start lap thirteen. 

A Kawasaki, two Yamahas and an MV Agusta led the race with less than a third of the race remaining, while Steven Odendaal's fifth place played into Dominique Aegerter's championship hopes. A mistake by Manuel Gonzalez into turn one put him into the long lap penalty strip, pushing him back to fourth place. Three manufacturers filled the podium potential places as Raffaele De Rosa was in place to win his first career first Supersport race. Manuel Gonzalez took third from Tuuli into turn five but was seven tenths from Krummenacher's second place as Gonzalez and Tuuli got track limits warnings.

Raffaele De Rosa stretched out his lead to three quarters of a second ahead of Randy Krummenacher who was getting caught by Manuel Gonzalez and Niki Tuuli. Steven Odendaal led a fight from fifth to ninth places almost five seconds off fourth place. Manuel Gonzalez closed the gap and passed Randy Krummenacher to start a last lap fight of four bikes covered by seven tenths of a second.

Raffaele De Rosa, Manuel Gonzalez, Randy Krummenacher and Niki Tuuli raced for the win. Krummenacher made a mistake into turn three, giving third place to Tuuli. 

Rafaelle De Rosa and Manuel Gonzalez swapped places a few times round the lap, with Gonzalez coming out in front as they headed into the last few turns, passing yellow flags on their way, and as De Rosa tried to take the lead back into the last few turns, Niki Tuuli closed up on the outside of the duelling pair and the three charged down the last straight as one three-bike blob. 

Manuel Gonzalez won by two hundredths of a second, with Raffaele De Rosa alongside and Niki Tuuli right behind, a tenth of a second covering the podium. Niki Tuuli joining the podium gave is the only three manufacturer podium of the year. Steven Odendaal was overhauled by Marcel Brenner and Federico Caricasulo to put the championship contender into seventh place. 

Once again, Raffaele De Rosa missed out on his first win, but Manuel Gonzalez claimed his second win of the championship to put him into third place, fifty four points behind Steven Odendaal. Odendaal's seventh place put him forty five points behind the absent Dominique Aegerter, picking up only seventeen points in a weekend without his rival. Raffaele De Rosa passed Can Oncu and Federico Caricasulo to claim eighth place in the championship.

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