Mirko Gennai secured his first victory of the season in the Supersport 300 World Championship (WSSP300) at Portimão on Saturday. The race, as usual in this category, was filled with intense emotions, with the top five riders finishing within less than a second of each other.
Matteo Vannucci (Pata Yamaha AG Motorsport Italia) started from pole position but ended the first lap in fourth place. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) took the lead and managed to build a gap of over seven-tenths of a second, but was overtaken by Marc García (KOVE) on the third lap. These two were prominent at the front during the first half of the race.
On lap five, Veneman regained the lead, but by lap six, Gennai (MTM Kawasaki) had closed the gap significantly. The Italian passed both Veneman and García on lap seven, and later Iñigo Iglesias Bravo (Fusport-RT Motorsport by SKM-Kawasaki) joined the fray.
The Spanish rider briefly took the lead but crashed on the penultimate lap. Gennai took full advantage, assuming the lead and winning the race with a 0.893-second margin over Carl Thompson (Fusport-RT Motorsport by SKM-Kawasaki), who made a surprising late charge. García completed the podium ahead of Veneman, with Elia Bartolini (Yamaha Motoxracing) finishing in fifth.
Aldi Satya Mahendra (Team BrCorse/Yamaha), who was second in the championship before this race, finished in sixth. Vannucci, despite setting the fastest lap, lost momentum throughout the race and ended up in 30th place.
Results:
Full #WorldSSP300 Race 1 results👇
— WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) August 10, 2024
🥇 Mirko Gennai
🥈 Carter Thompson
🥉 Marc Garcia #PortugueseWorldSBK 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/H5h3T6SaGZ
