Race weekend in Spain, Barcelona-Catalunya
The FIM Supersport World Championship season 2021 continued last weekend at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in Spain. Altogether things were quite tricky through the weekend. Already in the first practices it became apparent that the track had a worse grip than normally, and the grip remained similar throughout the weekend. In Superpole, Estonian Hannes Soomer raced to eight place, and Finnish Vertti Takala ranked 26th.
A heavy rain caught a surprise in Saturday's race shortly after the start, getting most of the riders to change tires after the second lap. “The mechanics did a great job; they got the tires replaced and both our riders rose several places after the pit stop. As the track dried up towards the end of the race, the tires started to be worn out and the riding was certainly just surviving for everyone,” says Vesa Kallio, the team manager at Kallio Racing.
Hannes Soomer finished 7th on Saturday. Vertti Takala received two long lap penalties due to a jump start and finished the race in 14th position.
Sunday's race was managed to run on a dry track. The start of the race was tricky for both Soomer and Takala. Soomer dropped to position 13 on the first lap, and went through a fierce battle for the last world championship points. To the finish he raced in 11th position. “This time the top ten standings were too far away, but it’s good that Hannes fought for himself a few Championship points,” says Vesa Kallio.
Vertti Takala managed to rise a few positions up at the end of the race, crossing the finish line in position 20. “P20, however, was far from what was set out to pursue. Now we just need to focus for the upcoming Jerez weekend. Lift up heads and bikes and give a throttle!” Vesa Kallio says.
Hannes Soomer:
“A bit annoyed with myself for the first few slow laps but happy to finish in P7 on Saturday. On Sunday we made a good step with the bike for the warmup, but nothing seemed to work in the race, especially in the first laps with the fresh tyre. On to Jerez in a few days.”
Vertti Takala:
“The goal was to have an intact weekend on a familiar track after the disappointments at Magny-Cours. A bit of conflicting moods, the results weren't exactly what we were hoping for. Didn't find the right feeling for riding, but we did find a direction where to proceed and some places to improve, so that was a positive end to this weekend. Nevertheless, we'll see if in Jerez we can manage to ride faster. It's one of my favourite tracks, so let's focus on there now. Thanks to the team, everything worked well, and hard work was done all weekend, unfortunately it doesn't always pay back. However, the next time we’ll succeed, the better it will taste again.”
The World Supersport season 2021s next race weekend takes place in Spain, Jerez from 24 to 26 September.
Race results
Championship standings:
https://resources.worldsbk.com/files/results/2021/CAT/SSP/002/STD/ChampionshipStandings.pdf?version=67e649219847fb6e7ff3ae98ae3ca54c&_ga=2.164104759.920462058.1632169931-1082753593.1631964928
Text: Kallio Racing
Pictures: Václav Duška Jr.
