The rain wasn’t falling for the start of Free Practice 1 at the Autodrom Most, but the track was damp on Friday morning as the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship took to the track. Times rapidly improved throughout the 30-minute session with Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) who topped the times by more than a second with his lap time coming at the optimum time before rain started falling during the first on-track action for the Acerbis Czech Round.
The Spaniard set a best time of 1’58.868s and was one of only three riders to be under the two-minute barrier in the rain-affected session as he finished 1.018s clear of British rider Fenton Seabright (Kawasaki GP Project) in second as the Kawasaki rider shone in the tricky conditions. Loris Veneman’s (MTM Kawasaki) last lap moved him up the order into third place with a 1’59.960s but he, like Seabright, was more than a second down on Perez Gonzalez.
Alessandro Zanca (Team#109 Kawasaki) put in a strong performance in FP1 as he took fourth place after posting a 2’00.086s, 1.398s slower than the fastest time. Home hero Petr Svoboda (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) was fifth as he looks to get his Championship charge back on track, with 2020 Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) rounding out the top six with a 2’00.345s; more than 1.6s slower than Perez Gonzalez.
Brazil’s Humberto Maier (Yamaha MS Racing/AD78 Latin America Team) was seventh with Kevin Sabatucci (Team Flembbo – PI Performances) in eighth. The Italian was one of several crashers in FP1 when he came off his at Turn 17. Troy Alberto (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) was ninth with Marc Garcia (China Racing Team) once again putting Kove inside the top ten as he returns to the Chinese manufacturer.
Dirk Geiger’s (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) session ended before he could set a lap time as the Championship leader crashed at Turn 21 before he could set a lap time. Wildcard Walid Khan, Geiger’s teammate, also crashed. He went down with under 20 minutes left in FP1. Krittapat Keankum (Arco Motor University Team), making his WorldSSP300 debut at Most, was another who crashed as he down at Turn 15. Mattia Martella (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) also crashed at Turn 7.
The top six following WorldSSP300 FP1, full results here:
1. Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) 1’58.688
2. Fenton Seabright (Kawasaki GP Project) +1.018s
3. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) +1.272s
4. Alessandro Zanca (Team#109 Kawasaki) +1.398s
5. Petr Svoboda (Fusport-RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) +1.436s
6. Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) 1.657s
Watch all the action from the Autodrom Most using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now HALF PRICE!
Source: WorldSBK.com