Lorenzo leads Pata Honda 1-2 at Imola

[totalmotorcycle]

#Lorenzo leads #Pata Honda 1-2 at #Imola



Lorenzo Zanetti won today’s fourth-round World Supersport championship race at Imola in Italy today, his debut victory in the series and the home race for both him and title sponsor Pata. His Pata Honda team-mate, Michael van der Mark, finished second.

Starting from the front row of the grid, 27-year-old Zanetti shadowed pole-sitter Kenan Sofuoglu, matching his times in the early part of the race before the Turkish rider was forced to retire with a technical issue at the end of lap 13.

Sporting a special helmet in tribute to the late, great Ayrton Senna, Zanetti brought his Honda CBR600RR home two seconds ahead of van der Mark, who was forced to fight his way to the front after starting the race from sixth place on the grid.

Van der Mark now leads the World Supersport championship on the same points total as Florian Marino, who finished third today. Zanetti is placed third in the series, which now heads to the UK for round five in two weeks’ time.



Lorenzo Zanetti - 1st

It’s been an amazing weekend and it’s fantastic to win at my home race. I don’t have many words, but I want to thank everybody for all their work. I thought from Friday that I might be able to win, but I was under a lot of pressure for the race because it was my home race, and the sponsors’ home race! I was able to stay with Kenan [Sofuoglu] but after he pulled in I won the race and I want to dedicate the victory to Andrea Antonelli. This is for him.





Michael van der Mark - 2nd

Today was really good. We tried some things in warm-up this morning and were immediately faster than we’ve been all weekend so I was really looking forward to the race. The start was OK but I was a bit too fast with the clutch and I lost some places. In the first few laps it was difficult to pass the other riders and I made some mistakes. Also, the wind was quite strong and I had to change the braking points a little. When I got up into third place I was quite fast and matching the times of Kenan and Lorenzo. Unfortunately Kenan had to retire and Lorenzo won the race, but to finish together with my team-mate at Pata’s home race is just an incredible job.





Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

After a really good warm-up, when we found something for Michael, we were confident going into the race. He had to come from sixth place with some small mistakes and, in the end, he was second to his team-mate and he’s now leading the championship. Lorenzo was really strong and determined all weekend – he’s been on it from the start. He was chasing for the victory when Sofuoglu had some problem and had to pull in, but Lorenzo rode very well and got us a one-two. It’s really been a day to remember for the Supersport team!






Weather
Sunny Intervals


Air
22°C


Track
35°C


Humidity
48%






Race Results - 17 laps

1 Lorenzo Zanetti 31m53.543s ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
2 Michael van der Mark +2.072 NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
3 Florian Marino +6.263 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
4 Patrick Jacobson +10.043 USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
5 Roberto Rolfo +16.366 ITA KAWASAKI Team GO Eleven
6 Fabio Menghi +23.914 ITA YAMAHA VFT Racing
7 Marco Bussolotti +24.060 ITA HONDA Team Lorini
8 Riccardo Russo +24.150 ITA HONDA Team Lorini
9 Kevin Wahr +24.996 GER YAMAHA Team Wahr by Kraus Racing


Championship Standings - Round 4

1 Michael van der Mark 65 pts NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
2 Florian Marino 65 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
3 Lorenzo Zanetti 49 pts ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
4 Kev Coghlan 44 pts GBR YAMAHA DMC Panavto-Yamaha
5 Jules Cluzel 42 pts FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
6 Raffaele De Rosa 38 pts ITA HONDA Core PTR Honda
7 Roberto Rolfo 30 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team GO Eleven
8 Roberto Tamburini 29 pts ITA KAWASAKI San Carlo Puccetti Racing
9 Kenan Sofuoglu 25 pts TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
10 Kevin Wahr 23 pts GER YAMAHA Team Wahr by Kraus Racing