The ninth round of the Supersport World Championship got underway today at the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal with the first free practice sessions.
The two Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders, Turk Can Oncu and Italian Yari Montella, come to Portugal from Barcelona, a round that saw Oncu reach the podium twice, while Montella didn’t achieve the results he deserved after battling at length for the positions that count.
This morning, both took to the track in cool, sunny conditions for the first free practice. The pair worked with their respective teams to adapt their ZX-6R to the technical, winding Portuguese track. With a time of 1’44”974, the Turkish rider finished ninth, while team-mate Yari (1’45”887) unfortunately suffered a crash. Although he was unhurt in the incident, he was unable to do better than twentieth.
In FP2, Oncu (1’44”676) improved slightly to move into eighth place. Montella was able to make more progress (1’45”239), rounding out this first day in thirteenth place in the combined standings
The Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders will return to the track tomorrow for Superpole and the first race of this ninth WorldSSP round.
Autodromo do Algarve – Portimao – Portugal – Supersport World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 2) Manzi (Triumph) 3) – Aegerter (Yamaha) – 4) De Rosa (Ducati) – 5) Baldassarri (Yamaha) …………..8) Oncu (Kawasaki) ……… 13) Montella (Kawasaki)
Can Oncu
“We focused a lot on setup today and in the end I’m pretty happy with the results. There are still some points that need work, but I’m not overly worried because we know what we need to do and so I’m confident ahead of tomorrow’s race. Thanks to my team for all their hard work.”
Yari Montella
“This morning I made a mistake and crashed. I’m really sorry, but these things can happen on track. This afternoon, we started from the base we identified in FP1 and improved the bike and my performance too. It’s not easy to find a setting that works in all sectors at this track, but I think we’ve found a good compromise and so I feel confident for tomorrow. I want to thank the guys as they’ve really helped me out again.”
