Race weekend in Portugal, Portimāo
The FIM Supersport World Championship season 2021 continued last weekend when the last European races were run at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal. The track is truly magnificent, but it also requires a lot from riders both physically, and technically.
Friday was challenging for Estonian Hannes Soomer. Some big changes were made before Saturday, and riding was also scrutinized. On Saturday, Soomer’s lap time improved considerably. “However, the top group got away, it still takes time to achieve that goal,” says Kallio Racing’s team manager Vesa Kallio. After Saturday's Superpole, Soomer started for the races from 15th position on the grid. He finished in 13th position in both races of the weekend.
For Finnish Vertti Takala, the track was entirely new, and Friday was spent finding good feeling with the track, as well as focusing on getting as many laps under as possible. Takala started the races from 23rd position on the grid. In Saturday's race he finished in position 21 and in Sunday's race he raced to 19th position. “Unfortunately, the start of the races is still difficult for both. When you need to fight in a tough group, you should not give an inch in, and riding should also be flawless. When those mistakes happen, it shows up immediately in the lost standings when the top group gets away. Without the mistakes, Vertti’s pace would have been close to the top 15, which would have been a good performance on this track,” says Vesa Kallio.
Hannes Soomer:
“The negative part of this weekend was that we were very very slow on Friday and couldn’t find at all a good feeling with the bike. This meant we were all weekend one step behind the guys in front. The positive is we made a good step forward on Saturday and a smaller step on Sunday and by the end of race 2 I felt quite good on the bike again. The injury has made this season a lot tougher but I’m still very motivated to end it on a high at the flyaway races.”
Vertti Takala:
“Portimāo's track is one of the finest I've ever ridden. It's like a roller coaster, going up and down, it’s fast-paced and wide. However, the track was new to me, so the weekend was spent on learning. Because of the height differences, the track is one of the most challenging ones on the calendar. In Friday's practices we tried to get the feel for the track, and we got one good lap in Saturday's Superpole, but the others had fast laps too. The first race went otherwise well, but on one turn I went wide and with that I fell out of fighting for the points. The same happened in Sunday's race too, so in that way the races were a small disappointment. However, I ended the weekend with a good feeling, riding felt good, and the track was nice. Now towards Argentina, I’m excited to see what awaits there. I have never been to South America before, so the experience is new in that way too. I'm really looking forward to it.”
The World Supersport season 2021s next race weekend takes place in Argentina, Circuito San Juan Villicum from 15 to 17 October.
Race results
Saturday:
https://resources.worldsbk.com/files/results/2021/POR/SSP/001/CLA/Results.pdf?version=3f254ea62985e67d70d5751fd79112ed&_ga=2.256159499.1282640342.1633605049-896336305.1633605042
Championship standings:
https://resources.worldsbk.com/files/results/2021/POR/SSP/002/STD/ChampionshipStandings.pdf?version=67e649219847fb6e7ff3ae98ae3ca54c&_ga=2.261508109.1282640342.1633605049-896336305.1633605042
Text: Kallio Racing
Pictures: Václav Duška Jr.
