Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega claimed his fifth win of the season, the third consecutive one. He extends his Championship lead to 52 points over Stefano Manzi. Marcel Schroetter made it two podiums in two rounds with second place in Race 1, while his teammate, Bahattin Sofuoglu, claimed his maiden WorldSSP rostrum visit with third place after a fierce battle with Stefano Manzi on the final lap. Manzi was given a three-second time penalty, in lieu of a Long Lap Penalty for taking a shortcut and not losing sufficient time, which dropped him to sixth place.
The fight for all three podium places in the FIM Supersport World Championship in Race 1 for the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was a thrilling affair as Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) claimed his fifth win of the 2023 season while a familiar name returned to the podium. Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) put the Sofuoglu name back on the podium with a hard-fought third place after a scrap with his teammate as well as Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha).
Bulega initially dropped down at the start of the race and fell behind Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) at the start before re-taking the lead in the opening laps. It had looked like he would pull away from the chasing pack, but it was a charging Sofuoglu (who took the lead on Lap 7 with a move at Turn 1 after a series of fast laps to close the gap. The pair switched positions which allowed the chasing group, led by Marcel Schroetter, to close the gap.
Schroetter pulled away from teammate Sofuoglu and Manzi as the pair fought hard for the podium with the pair side by side for almost the entire final lap with the fight for third decided right at the end of the race. Despite Schroetter closing the gap to Bulega he was unable to make the move for victory as he finished six tenths down on Bulega. Sofuoglu had taken third place on the run to the line, with the pair elbow to elbow trying to finish on the podium, but Manzi was given a three-second time penalty, in lieu of a Long Lap Penalty for taking a shortcut and not losing sufficient time, which dropped him to sixth place.
WorldSSP action resumes on Sunday from 09:25 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Race 2 at 12:30.
WorldSSP Race 1 Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team)
2. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +0.626s
3. Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +3.996s
4. Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) +4.991s
5. Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) +5.467s
6. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +7.002s
WorldSSP Championship standings
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 152 points
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 100 points
3. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 99 points
WorldSSP Tissot Superpole Results
1. Nicolo Bulega | Ducati | 1’44.243s
2. Marcel Schroetter |MV Agusta | +0.274s
3. Federico Caricasulo | Ducati | +0.441s
P1 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba Racing WorldSSP Team
“It was a difficult race because Schroetter and Sofuoglu were very fast. At the end this is another win. Thanks to my team because the bike was very good all the weekend. It was difficult for us to choose between the SCX or the SC0, so I don’t know if I made the right choice … but I won. Tomorrow, we have another race, and I will try again. I hope to be the man to beat until the end of the season.”
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