It was a tough start to the weekend for the Turkish youngster, who was unfortunate that the wet conditions in FP2 and FP3 didn’t allow for him to improve his lap time. This saw Sofuoğlu enter the Last Chance Race, in which he finished second to start 31st on the Race 1 grid.
With track conditions still wet from the earlier shower, the Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha rider made a storming start and was already into 19th by the end of lap one. On the eighth tour, Sofuoğlu improved to 10th, taking ninth at the finish to pick up more important championship points.
Yamaha MS Racing WorldSSP300 Supported Team’s Ton Kawakami struggled to get a clean run in qualifying and lined up 24th on the grid. However, the Brazilian also made a strong start and was immediately in the top 10. Throughout the race, Kawakami battled in the second group for fifth position, eventually finishing 11th.
His teammate Unai Orradre was the lead bLU cRU rider in qualifying, and started from fifth, but the Spaniard quickly dropped to 28th in the early stages. In slower traffic, the 16-year-old was unable to make progress back into the points and finished 20th. Alan Kroh also lost places at the start, having qualified a career best sixth, and struggled with the conditions and traffic to cross the line in 26th.
Like his Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha teammate, Alvaro Diaz was also unlucky with the wet weather in FP2 and FP3 and was forced to enter the Last Chance Race. While fighting in the top six, needed for automatic qualification into the main races, the Spaniard had a fall which prematurely ended his weekend.
For full Race 1 results, click here.
