Dominique Aegerter further extended his lead at the top of the FIM Supersport World Championship this weekend, flying to a double race victory in Spain.
After dominating Friday and Saturday, Aegerter aimed to get one step closer to the 2022 WorldSSP championship by securing victory in Sunday’s 18-lap race. A frantic start left the World Champion down the order in the opening stages as a feisty battle began to unfold at the front of the field, involving Lorenzo Baldassarri and the two Puccetti Kawasakis.
Keeping his cool, the Swiss rider slowly picked his way through the field, joining the podium fight by the fifth lap. As the pack broke up, it became a titanic four-rider battle for victory. As the quartet continued to exchange places, a small error from the number 77 rider left him wide at turn one. Re-joining in fourth, and with a gap to bridge to the leading trio, Aegerter got his head down.
Leaning on the dominant pace he had set throughout the weekend, it wasn’t long until Aegerter hit the front, catching, and passing Stefano Manzi, Can Oncu and Lorenzo Baldassarri – and immediately began to extend his advantage to ultimately cross the line first by 2.014 seconds.
A late struggle for Lorenzo Baldassarri saw him fade from the podium battle and eventually finished the race in fourth place.
While you couldn’t take your eyes away from the battle at the front, there were some excellent fights further back. Leonardo Taccini made it a double top ten finish for Ten Kate Racing Yamaha, crossing the line in ninth place with VFT Racing’s Marcel Brenner coming home in 11th.
Simon Jesperson made it a double point paying weekend on the Kallio Racing Yamaha. The Danish rider ended the weekend in 12th place with the final point going to Jules Cluzel on the GMT94 Yamaha.
A trickier day saw Andy Verdoia, Patrick Hobelsberger and Ondrej Vostatek finish in 16th, 17th and 18th places respectively with Peter Sebestyen, who crashed out on Saturday’s opening lap, in 20th.
MS Racing Yamaha’s Unai Orradre sadly was forced to retire from the second race of the weekend with a technical issue.
A 12th victory of the season sees Aegerter extend his series lead over Baldassarri to 36 points ahead of the Portuguese round. Ten Kate Racing continue to lead the team’s standings while Yamaha and the R6 remain atop of the manufacturer’s standings.
The World Supersport paddock will now enjoy a week off before returning to the rollercoaster on the Algarve at the Algarve International Circuit, Portimão, Portugal on 07 - 09 October.
