Having qualified eighth, which became a seventh-place start after a penalty ahead, Sofuoğlu got away well and held his position in the opening stages. The Turkish youngster took the lead after passing several riders into the final corner on lap six of 14, but was shuffled back to seventh at the next corner, demonstrating just how close it was. The bLU cRU rider climbed back to third with two laps to go, before contact at Turn 10 dropped him back to eighth.
On the final lap, Sofuoğlu had recovered back to third, but was just beaten on the run to the line by 0.02s, seeing him finish fourth.
Starting from the eighth row, Sabatucci found himself in the lead group - covering the top 16 riders - by the halfway stage of the race. The Italian managed to avoid several incidents around him and moved into the top 10 with two laps to go. The Viñales Racing Team rider wasn’t done there though, moving up to sixth on the final lap, before taking another place in the last sector to cross the line in fifth.
Yamaha MS Racing WorldSSP Supported Team’s Unai Orradre had qualified 10th, but was penalised for a jump start as the race got underway. The Spanish rider had to take two long lap penalties, but was still able to remain in the lead group after a series of fast laps. In the closing stages, the bLU cRU rider was looking to move inside the top five, but was forced to avoid fallers ahead and dropped to 10th by the finish.
For Race 1 results, click here.
