Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Yamaha R6) was the outstanding man of the France round in the Supersport 600 World Championship despite missing a double victory on the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

Gonzalez wins after restart – Odendaal only sixth

As on Saturday afternoon, the WorldSSP 600 race was cancelled due to red flags. This time, in the chicane before the start and finish, even World Championship leader Aegerter and local hero Cluzel were involved as third on Saturday. The two had not been able to evade when Luca Bernardi fabricated a crash in front of them. But the Swiss was lucky in that it was cancelled immediately afterwards. He was there again afterwards, while the Italian and French were at the medical centre when the restart occurred. Aegerter took the lead early, but was replaced in the second lap by Manuel Gonzalez. Odendaal was eighth at this point, and the World Cup runner-up had to try again as early as possible, just like on Saturday.

Jules Cluzel (GMT96 Yamaha R6) was once again the unlucky person – fell innocently and after rank 3 not at the restart on Saturday, but for an examination in the medical centre. After all, like Bernardi, the Frenchman had not seriously injured himself.

Steven Odendaal’s slow catch-up
After 3 races shortened to 12 laps, the South African had reached P7 and a little later he also conceded Andy Verdoia, who was ahead of him. At the top, Aegerter found his way back to Gonzalez a little later. Behind, 8 laps before the end, Öncü, Öttl, Tuuli, Odendaal, Caricasulo and Raffaele de Rosa. The young Verdoia followed on P9 in front of Kevin Manfredi, who had meanwhile dropped from position 6 to 10. While in the lead, the Domi-Fighter tried to ride away from his pursuers, but the Spaniards and the Turks in particular persisted. In contrast to Saturday, Odendaal had a lot more trouble working his way forward this time. On the contrary, he lost more and more ground to Niki Tuuli lying in front of him.

Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) narrowly missed the podium, but the German was able to reduce his deficit to second place in the World Championship with fourth place.

Aegerter loses the victory and still extends the lead

At the front it was Gonzalez who won his first WorldSSP 600 victory in front of Aegerter, an overjoyed Can Öncü, Philipp Öttl and Niki Tuuli. Odendaal in P6 lost many points to the World Cup leader again, but he will be missing in Barcelona in two weeks. Since the Swiss has to drive MotoE in Misano, the World Cup can be exciting again if the South African gets a good result in Catalonia. No matter how well Steven Odendaal does, Domi remains in the lead after the round in Catalonia, which is the reassuring situation for him. With a lead of 62 points, he cannot be ousted from the top even if the South African wins a one-two in Barcelona. This will be followed by two more events within two weeks in Jerez and Portimão, where the Swiss can continue his fight for the first world title.

While the main stand was almost empty at start-finish, there were quite a lot of spectators in other places on the weekend in France.

The first interviews
Can Öncü was overwhelmed after his first podium, and he promised it would not be the last. On this occasion, he thanked his mentor Kenan Sofuoglu, who always believed in him and supported him. Domi Aegerter first emphasized that he hoped the pilots who had fallen were not injured. The Swiss was nevertheless satisfied with second place and thanked the fans, many of whom had travelled from his home country. He is happy with this result for the championship because it has increased his lead. Winner Gonzalez said he could hardly find words. He had tried to stick with the Swiss, and the fight for victory was tough. In the end it would have been enough, and now he would like to thank his team for an excellent bike that they had made available to him.

The WorldSSP podium on Sunday afternoon with the Spanish flag in the centre and, for the first time in a long time, that of Turkey as well.

Sunday’s second race in numbers

Stand in the WorldSSP 600 world championships

P, Rider, Points, Bike
1. DOMINIQUE AEGERTER 302 YAMAHA
2. STEVEN ODENDAAL 240 YAMAHA
3. PHILIPP OETTL 178 KAWASAKI
4. LUCA BERNARDI 161 YAMAHA
5. MANUEL GONZALEZ 158 YAMAHA
6. JULES CLUZEL 140 YAMAHA
7. FEDERICO CARICASULO 103 YAMAHA
8. CAN ALEXANDER ONCU 90 KAWASAKI
9. RANDY KRUMMENACHER 84 YAMAHA
10. RAFFAELE DE ROSA 77 KAWASAKI
11. NIKI TUULI 69 MV AGUSTA
12. HANNES SOOMER 48 YAMAHA
13. CHRISTOFFER BERGMAN 42 YAMAHA
14. MARC ALCOBA 40 YAMAHA
15. KEVIN MANFREDI 31 YAMAHA
16. VERTTI TAKALA 21 YAMAHA
17. PETER SEBESTYEN 21 YAMAHA
18. GALANG HENDRA PRATAMA 21 YAMAHA
19. SIMON JESPERSEN 15 YAMAHA
20. ANDY VERDOIA 14 YAMAHA
21. MARCEL BRENNER 10 YAMAHA
22. STEPHANE FROSSARD 10 YAMAHA
23. VALENTIN DEBISE 9 YAMAHA
24. SHERIDAN MORAIS 9 YAMAHA
25. DAVID SANCHIS MARTINEZ 8 YAMAHA
26. MARIA HERRERA 7 YAMAHA
27. FILIPPO FULIGNI 6 YAMAHA
28. MICHEL FABRIZIO 6 KAWASAKI
29. MAX ENDERLEIN 5 YAMAHA
30. ROBERTO MERCANDELLI 5 YAMAHA
31. FEDERICO FULIGNI 5 YAMAHA
32. HIKARI OKUBO 4 KAWASAKI
33. MASSIMO ROCCOLI 4 YAMAHA
34. LUCA GRUNWALD 3 SUZUKI
35. MATTEO PATACCA 3 YAMAHA
36. UNAI ORRADRE 2 YAMAHA
37. DANIEL VALLE 2 YAMAHA
38. ONDREJ VOSTATEK 2 YAMAHA
39. OSCAR GUTIERREZ IGLESIAS 1 YAMAHA
40. LUCA OTTAVIANI 1 KAWASAKI
41. LEONARDO TACCINI 1 KAWASAKI
42. DAVIDE PIZZOLI 1 YAMAHA
43. PAWEL SZKOPEK 1 YAMAHA

Dominique Aegerter in the interview after finishing second on Sunday afternoon – the outstanding World Cup leader will be absent from Barcelona in two weeks, but he will not lose his World Cup lead.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).