After qualifying 13th at the fast and flowing Portuguese circuit, Kawakami was embroiled in the top 10 battle throughout Saturday’s race. The Brazilian made no mistakes, matching the eventual race winner’s pace as he led the bLU cRU contingent home in 10th.
Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP300 Supported Team’s Sofuoğlu had work to do after qualifying only 21st in the Superpole. The Turkish youngster made steady progress and moved into the points-paying places on lap seven, crossing the line 14th, which sees him hold a 19-point advantage over fourth in the championship with one race remaining.
Having shown strong pace to end Friday as the fastest bLU cRU rider, Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha’s Alvaro Diaz struggled to put the perfect lap together in qualifying and started Race 1 from 27th. The Spaniard made up a number of places on the opening lap and just missed out on scoring points, finishing 18th.
Just behind was Yamaha MS Racing’s Alan Kroh, who also showed early promise with the fifth fastest lap on combined times in practice, but endured a difficult Superpole and started 28th. The 16-year-old German followed Diaz through and crossed the line 0.058s behind in 19th position.
Teammate Unai Orradre qualified as the top bLU cRU runner in eighth and was challenging for a top-five finish in the race, but the Spaniard was unable to avoid an incident ahead and was forced to retire with damage.
For full Superpole results, click here.
For full Race 1 results, click here.
