Swiss rider Jesko Raffin wins Race 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of Augusto Fernandez and Edgar Pons.
Jesko Raffin conquered another victory, but this time he had to fight harder for it. He won over his main opponent in this Championship, Augusto Fernandez, who finished 2nd after a great comeback. Edgar Pons stepped 3rd on the podium: he had been battling for the leading position for most of the race but suffered a performance loss toward the end. After the race, the winner made an emotional speech and dedicated his victory to Luis Salom, who died on this track just two years ago.
Poleman Raffin performed an excellent kick-off, followed by Pons, Garzo, and Ekky Pratama. We can’t say the same of Fernandez and especially Marcon, who lost many positions and ended up out of the top ten, right before fellow countryman Zaccone. The first five riders gained a large advantage from the rest of the group in just a few laps: the first two started a fierce fight for the head of the ranking while the other three tried to keep up with their pace and limit their lead. After some laps, Fernandez started his comeback and registered the best time of the race with an excellent 1:44.752, taking also the leading position for some time thanks to Raffin’s mistake. Just behind the two aforementioned riders, there were Pons, Ekky, and Garzo. Eventually, Tulovic managed to catch up with them and started a new interesting battle.
Thanks to a great last sprint, Jesko Raffin conquered his third victory in a row. He managed to climb back up to the leading position, and then put some tenths between him and Augusto Fernandez that allowed him to cross the finish line first. Edgar Pons got the 3rd step on the podium, with a large advantage over the Wimu CNS duo. Hector Garzo won over his teammate Lukas Tulovic and over Dimas Ekky Pratama too, as he couldn’t keep up until the end. Xavier Cardelus finished 7th, ahead of Miquel Pons and Marcel Brenner, while Marc Alcoba arrived 10th but got a more-than-1-second penalty for going out of track between Turn 1 and 2. This way, Tommaso Marcon gained the 10th place despite a very difficult race.
The ranking
