Niki Tuuli dominated the first race of the World Supersport Championship at Magny-Cours this morning. The intense rain from yesterday forced a postponement, and today the tarmac remained wet with a tendency to dry out.
Adrián Huertas (Aruba.it Ducati) started from pole position, but for half of the race, it was Valentin Debise (Evan Bros. Yamaha) who led ahead of the Spaniard, until in the seventh lap both were overtaken by Tuuli (EAB Racing Team/Ducati).
The Finn quickly gained distance: Debise was delayed by the wet tyres, while Huertas got involved in an incident with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team/Ducati) in the eighth lap and lost a lot of time.
The Italian, in turn, was penalized with a Long Lap for causing the incident, and when he served the penalty, he was out of the fight for the podium. With a solid and mistake-free pace, Tuuli secured the victory.
Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME AIR Racing/MV Agusta) finished second, crossing the line 2.938s behind. The decisive pass by the Italian occurred in the penultimate lap, relegating Glenn van Straalen (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate) to third. Huertas and Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti) completed the top five ahead of Montella.
Results:
🟢#WorldSSP Race 1 RESULTS ⬇️
— WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) September 8, 2024
🥇Niki Tuuli
🥈Federico Caricasulo
🥉Gleen van Straalen#FrenchWorldSBK 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/CMBpCdJWWK
