The fourth round of the Supersport World Championship began at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain today. Having suffered an accident at Assen, Can Oncu is unable to participate in this Spanish round and so Kawasaki Puccetti Racing has called upon Lucas Mahias, who previously raced with the Kawasaki ZX-6R and with Manuel Puccetti’s team.
This morning the Frenchman took part in the first free practice with the aim of rebuilding confidence with the team and particularly with the bike, setting a time of 1’47”109. In the second session, Lucas improved significantly to finish in fourteenth position overall with a time of 1’46”224.
An excellent result considering that Mahias hadn’t ridden the ZX-6R for several years.
Tomorrow the Frenchman will compete in Superpole followed by the first race making up this Spanish round.
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Spain – Supersport World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Bulega (Ducati) – 2) Tuuli (Triumph) – 3) Sofuoglu (MV Agusta) – 4) Caricasulo (Ducati) – 5) Manzi (Yamaha) ………. 14) Mahias (Kawasaki)
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“Considering this was my first day riding the Ninja ZX-6R in a few years, I can say I’m quite pleased. If we exclude the top three, our gap to the others is less than a second, and so that’s not a negative result. I obviously need more time on track, but I can see that my feeling with the bike is gradually improving. It’s clear that we’re not happy with my position today, because both me and the team want to win, but it’s ok for now. Tomorrow I’ll try to improve further in order to run a strong Superpole and a good race.”
