Start of the WorldSSP season in Motorland Aragon and a very dramatic season opener with a lot of surprises and a lot of excitement in the first two races.

Review of the WorldSSP 600 season opener in Aragon

This year, in the middle class of the near-series world championship, the aim is to find Andrea Locatelli’s successor. After a dominance that had never been seen before in the history of the WorldSSP, the Italian moved directly to the Yamaha works team of the WSBK in 2021. After Superpole, Jules Cluzel (Yamaha), Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta) and Philipp Öttl ( Kawasaki) were three different makes on the front row. Actually strange, as there is often the stupid saying on relevant portals that the WSSP 600 has degenerated into a Yamaha Cup. Fortunately, the reality is different, even if two of the men from row 1 did not survive the race.

Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in top form – the young German was the only one of the three from the front row who made it to the finish line and this to the cheering of his team.

Dramatic outcome of the first race on Saturday
With Jules Cluzel, it was the pole sitter who shaped the race in the first half. The fast Frenchman took command early and after five laps he had a lead of a second over his closest rival Philipp Öttl. Niki Tuuli, on the other hand, didn’t get off to a particularly good start and was initially only in P5 when the drivers passed the start-finish for the first time. But the Finn gradually worked his way forward on his MV Agusta F3 675 and after the first third he was up to the second-placed German, only to pass this and his Kawasaki ZX-6R shortly afterwards. A little later he was already on the leading French, but then it happened.

Jules Cluzel (standing) takes care of Niki Tuuli, who is lying on the ground, after he cleared away in turn 12 because he hit him in the rear, whereby the Frenchman had no chance at turn 1 in Aragon, like a year ago. At that time he was caught by Tuuli’s predecessor Raffaele de Rosa and then fell out with broken bones.

A collision with consequences
The MV Agusta driver was too optimistic in Turn 12 and caught the Cluzel in front of him on the rear wheel, which resulted in a violent crash between the two. It was clearly the Finn’s mistake and the Frenchman’s only consolation in the end was that, unlike Tuuli, he hadn’t been seriously hurt by it. But to be shot down innocently by an MV Agusta pilot for the second time within a year was very tough for him and also for his team. Niki then had to go to the hospital with a concussion for further examination and should not be on the grid on Sunday. This cleared the way for the drivers behind them, and it was Steven Odendaal who was able to leave Dominique Aegerter behind him in the finals, while Öttl took his first podium of the season with third place.

Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team Yamaha) crossed the chequered flag in his first WorldSSP win of his career, exactly 0.099 seconds ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha).

Philipp Öttl after 3rd place in the first race: „It was a good race and I got off to a very good start. At the beginning I had a good feeling with the bike, but towards the end the grip suddenly dropped dramatically. Afterwards I thought to myself, now I have to stay in the leadership position as long as possible. But in the end I was ridden on eggshells, it was so slippery. The front was fine, my rear tire was the problem. I tried my best and third place today was the best I could achieve in Superpole that morning. Now I hope that the conditions will be a little cooler on Sunday so that I won’t have any problems later in the race. But it was still a good race. Sixteen points is a positive start. The Kawasaki was fast on the straights, and I’m happy so far. Now we can keep up with the fastest. The team and the bike are an improvement over last year.“

Can Öncü after 10th place in the 1st run on Saturday: „The start wasn’t bad, it was very nice. After a good start, I had problems in the fast corners in the middle of the race and had to fight a bit. I started sliding a bit in the back and I think we should take another step in that area on day two. Everything was fine until the 10th or 11th round, but after that it got very difficult. “

Can Öncü (Kawaski Puccetti Racing) in front of Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team Yamaha) – the young Turk was able to leave the supposed World Championship favourites from Switzerland behind them for the entire race. In contrast to Kenan Sofuoglu’s protégé, the 2019 world champion did not even make it into the top ten in the first race of the season.
WorldSBK day one results (left, with Jonathan Rea’s 100th win) and he WSSP 600 with a South African winner who won his first world championship race of his career One-day later he was to be one of the main protagonists again.

The second race on Sunday

Phillip Öttl’s wish for cooler weather was to come true, but it was also quite wet. Unfortunately, the young German overdone it a bit at the beginning and only got to the second corner when he slipped almost parallel to Federico Caricasulo and found himself in the gravel. Afterwards both tried to start the race again, but the Kawasaki driver pits afterwards with a defective bike. Even for the vice world champion of 2019 it was no longer enough to make it into the points, which meant that he was out of the top ten in the World Cup interim rankings. Whoever had bad prospects before the start was Jules Cluzel. The Yamaha rider had to start from the back because the stewards had previously noticed a problem with the tire pressure. However, what the Frenchman achieved afterwards was more than astonishing.

Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha, left in the picture) and Phillip Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) after their fall in Turn 2, right after the start – with that two co-favourites on the podium were as good as out of the race after just a few seconds.

The towering man of the race – Jules Cluzel
Winner Steven Odendaal and runner-up Raffaele de Rosa may forgive us, but neither was the man of the race for most viewers. As an explanation, here are the most important stations of Jules Cluzel, the unlucky person in the first race and a Yamaha rider with almost no chance before the start. Starting from the very back, the fast Frenchman was already in P15 after one lap, almost 8.5 seconds behind the front-runner. After the first third he was already in 8th position. He was almost 14 seconds behind leader Chris Bergman from Sweden. In the 10th of 15 laps he was already in second position and was on the hunt for the leader.

Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) third from the left behind with the number 16, while in the front in the picture Caricasulo and Öttl slide parallel into the gravel bed, while the leaders were already past in this shot.

The tightest decision about the podium
In the end it was extremely close to who would be on top of the podium, and again it was like on Saturday with Steven Odendaal the Bardahl Evan Bros pilot. Behind them, just a tenth behind, Raffaele de Rosa was on the podium for the first time with the Kawasaki and behind him, third with a wafer-thin decision, Jules Cluzel as the man of the race ahead of Hannes Soomer. Dominique Aegerter had to be content with P5 this time and Bergman, as the previous leader, was sixth behind the Swiss. The honour of Finland saved this time instead of the missing Niki Tuuli his compatriot Vertti Takala with rank 8 behind Marc Alcoba. Randy Krummenacher, who was considered a favourite by many before the start of the season, made it into the top ten this time, ahead of Hendra Pratama. Below is the ranking of the 2nd race in Aragon.

Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) ahead of Vertti Takala (Kallio Yamaha) and Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) – in the end the man from Montluçon (between Lyon and Le Mans) was rewarded with third place for his sensational race to catch up.

World Cup stand of the WorldSSP after the first round

To be on the safe side and for the sake of clarity, we’ve only listed the first few laps here. The overseas rounds in Argentina and Indonesia are effectively questionable. The second Aragon race is highlighted in blue because it started as a rain race. After the first two races, a Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha rider is in the lead again, and this even with a clear gap ahead of his closest rival from Switzerland. Behind the “Domi-Fighter”, however, things are very close and there is only a difference of 15 points up to 8th place.

Motorland Aragon route map

The near-series World Championship has been in Aragon since 2011 and the first WSSP victory was won by a certain Chaz Davies on ParkinGo Yamaha. The following year, Sam Lowes was the winner on a PTR Honda. In the WorldSSP, Kenan Sofuoglu was the best as a three-time winner in a row from 2014 to 2016

WorldSBK’s provisional calendar for 2021

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