Race 2 for the WorldSSP Championship at MotorLand Aragon for the Teruel Round was full of drama as Andrea Locatelli claimed his ninth consecutive WorldSSP victory, extending his Championship lead to 79 points, as he won the 15-lap race by more than six seconds.
Locatelli had fallen to third place before responding on the second lap and was looking to battle his way through the front running pair of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) and Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse). Cluzel was fighting with de Rosa, the Italian putting pressure on Cluzel from second place, before the pair collided at Turn 1 on Lap 4; forcing both riders out of the race.
Cluzel was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the incident and was diagnosed with fractures to his left tibia and fibula, with Cluzel transferred to a local hospital for further assessments.
It meant Locatelli assumed the lead of the race with 11 laps to go but took a handful of laps before he could pull out a gap from Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) with Mahias not giving Locatelli any room to breathe until around the half distance point of the race. After that, Locatelli was able to pull out a gap to claim his ninth win of the season, the first rider to win nine races in one WorldSSP season.
Mahias claimed a comfortable second place ahead of Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing), who completed the podium, after an epic last-lap battle with Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing); the pair separated by just 0.032s at the line.
Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) finished in fifth place after being in the titanic battle for third place, finishing just ahead of Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth); the Hungarian rider securing his best-ever WorldSSP result with sixth, beating Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) by just 0.043s at the line.
Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) finished in eighth place, the 2019 WorldSSP300 World Champion in a drag race to the line with Sebestyen and Perolari and finishing just 0.043s behind Perolari. Gonzalez finished just two seconds away from a podium finish as he showed strong pace throughout, finishing almost six seconds clear of South African rider Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing) in ninth and Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) completing the top ten.
Alejandro Carranza Ruiz (EMPERADOR Racing Team) was the highest placed WorldSSP Challenge rider with 11th place, holding Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) by around 1.5 seconds. Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) finished in 13th place, ahead of Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Andy Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) completing the points.
Hikari Okubo (Dynavolt Honda) did not take the start of the race while Luigi Montella (DK MOTORSPORT), Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team) and Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team) all retired from the race alongside Cluzel and de Rosa; with Öncü bringing his bike back to the pits after just five laps.
Teruel WorldSSP MotorLand Aragon – Race 2:
1. Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team)
2. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +6.286s
3. Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) +7.876s
4. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +7.908s
5. Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) +9.420s
6. Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) +9.607
