Like every Saturday morning, the Superpole session, which serves as a qualifying session, took place. The GMT94 Yamaha had a complicated session, with Jules qualifying 16th and Andy 19th. With the times being very close from 2nd place, the GMT94 Yamaha riders could have been better rewarded.
As soon as race 1 started, the red flag was brought out. The race was reduced from 18 to 12 laps. Jules Cluzel had a little less time to catch up with his rivals. He still finished in a good eighth place. The pace of the rider of the #16 GMT94 Yamaha R6 was particularly interesting, as he rode several times on the podium pace. The initial lack of grip did not allow him to get back up, but a good race 2 is on the cards for tomorrow.
Starting from 19th place, Andy Verdoia made up several places in the early laps, then battled through the 12th place group with a consistent pace. The #94 rider fought hard and finished 14th.
Jules Cluzel: “The race was interesting, because I could see our strengths and areas for improvement. If we improve the initial grip tomorrow, I think I can get even better. A lot of riders have grip problems here, so we need to be able to get better than the others in this area to overtake quickly. Overall I feel good on the bike, I can brake hard, we don’t need much more to go for the podium group. We will work on this in the warm-up to be ready for race 2.“
Andy Verdoia: “I’m pretty happy with my race because I fought well, had fun and was consistent in 1’46. With a better start and a better first lap tomorrow, I hope I can improve my final position.“
