The Supersport World Championship took place in Portugal at the Portimao circuit defined by most of the riders as a "roller coaster" because of the ups and downs on how it was built. Niki Tuuli and Bahattin Sofuoglu arrived in Portugal with every intention of making their mark at the last European round. Tuuli started the weekend in the best possible way, showing excellent pace finishing both practice sessions in the lead. Bahattin began his "apprenticeship" with the Portuguese track improving lap after lap, finishing just over 1second behind his team mate. In Superpole the riders of the MV Agusta Reparto Corse Team showed their excellent potential on this track with Niki Tuuli in fifth position and Bahattin Sofuoglu in seventh. Race 1 saw the Finn get off to a good start and then rush into the lead group. An intense race, fought until the last meter with the podium being missed by Tuuli once again only by a few centimetres. Sofuoglu was unable to take his best shot at the green light losing five positions and passing twelfth at the end of the first lap. A thought about the WorldSSP Challenge classification for the young Turkish rider who did not hesitate to fight for the whole race with Soomer, Oncu and Vinales for a place in the top ten. Sofuoglu missed the target by a few meters but the points won were enough for him to be crowned Champion of the WorldSSP Challenge category.A well-deserved victory which consolidates Bahattin's excellent driving skills. Race 2 is scheduled for tomorrow in which our drivers will look for a new attack for the podium before leaving for the overseas trip.
Niki Tuuli Superpole P5 / Race 1 P5 "I wasn’t really happy with my result. My feeling was good and I had to really speed up to reach the podium but I was struggling to overtake inside the group. Tomorrow I need to be more aggressive to enable me to get a better result".
Bahattin Sofuoglu Superpole P7 / Race 1 P11 / WorldSSP Challenge Champion "From the beginning of the season Ive been preparing myself for this and I’ve worked a lot for every race with MV team. We’ve improved and getting better results race by race. In the end we are champions. I want to thank all of my supporters,my family, Kenan and all MV agusta Reparto Corse".