Maiden victory for Bahattin Sofuoglu in Race 2

Bahattin Sofuoglu snatched victory in Race 2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, his first win in WorldSSP.

He stands in seventh place in the standings with 64 points. Sofuoglu’s teammate Marcel Schroetter secured second place following Manzi’s penalty claiming his second podium of the weekend. Schroetter’s second position means it was MV Agusta’s first 1-2 since Phillip Island 2015. Stefano Manzi crossed the finish line behind Schroetter but was penalised for exceeding track limits on the final lap. The Italian rider then finished in third place, behind the MV Agusta duo. He is third in the standings with 116 points and 36 points behind Bulega. Championship leader Nicolo Bulega had a technical issue at Turn 5 Lap 17 of 18 and was unable to finish the race, putting an end to Ducati’s streak of 9 races on the podium, their best one ever. He remains the Championship leader with 152 points.

There was a fierce fight for victory in Race 2 during the FIM Supersport World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and there were plenty of emotions on display on the podium for the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round as Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) took his first win in WorldSSP after fending off a challenge from both teammate Marcel Schroetter and Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in a thrilling three-way battle for victory in Spain.

Sofuoglu once again got a good start from ninth on the grid to put himself in the lead group in the early stages and he was soon in the lead of the race but it was a fierce fight for the win with Sofuoglu, Sofuoglu’s teammate Schroetter and Manzi who completed the podium positions with just 0.500s separating the top three at the end of the race, with Manzi moving into second on the final lap into Turn 1; Manzi crossed the line in second but was demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the final lap at Turn 8.

Schroetter took the lead from teammate Sofuoglu at Turn 1 on Lap 11 but Sofuoglu responded a lap later, while Manzi moved into second after passing Schroetter at Turn 1 on Lap 13. However, Manzi ran wide a lap later at Turn 10 but two laps later he made up for his mistake by taking both MV Agusta riders at Turn 5 to move into the lead, demoting Sofuoglu to third. On the penultimate lap, Sofuoglu moved into the lead as he and Schroetter went either side of Manzi into Turn 1 and he was able to hold on to the lead despite late pressure from Manzi on the final lap. With Manzi’s penalty, Schroetter was promoted to second place for the first MV Agusta 1-2 finish since Phillip Island in 2015.

WorldSSP Race 2 Results
1. Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
2. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +0.420s
3. Stefano Manzi (Tem Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.500s
4. Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) +2.563s
5. Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) +7.039s
6. Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) +7.327s

WorldSSP Championship standings
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 152 points
2. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 119 points
3. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 116 points

P1 | Bahattin Sofuoglu | MV Agusta Reparto Corse
“Yesterday I had my first podium. Kenan told me about my mistakes in Race 1. In the Warm Up, I just tried to keep my pace, and, in the race, I tried to apply what Kenan told me. In the end, we took first place, many years after Kenan was the legend. On this day, I’m really happy to take his surname on top again. I wanted this win so much and I didn’t expect it would come today like this. It’s a great step for me, for the team and for MV Augusta. I will try to keep this strong pace in the coming races.

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