The penultimate round of the Supersport World Championship took place in Indonesia at the Mandalika circuit located on the island of Lombok. Searing heat and heavy thunderstorms are key parts of the region's climate. Niki Tuuli, the only standard rider of the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team started on Friday with the right determination looking for the ideal setting for the F3800RC in the qualifying sessions. The main focus was on finding the right setup so as not to destroy the tyres on the brand new asphalt of the Indonesian circuit. The Finn finished the FP1 and FP2 rounds in fourteenth and fifth position respectively, with the certainty of being competitive for the rest of the weekend. In Superpole, Tuuli demonstrated how hard he worked going in the right direction with the guys on the team who had made some changes compared to Friday which further improved his feeling with the bike. Niki completed an absolutely perfect lap, conquering Pole Position and setting the new track record of 1’35.937. Race 1 saw the F3800RC number 66 start off with an excellent start, remaining in the leading group and at the end of the first lap he had already returned to the lead. Tuuli set an excellent pace remaining constantly at 1’36, a pace that made selection over the other riders with only Oncu remaining behind Tuuli. The Turkish rider made his attack during the twelfth lap, keeping the lead until the thirteenth lap when Niki made his decisive attack going straight into the lead. The last four laps were perfect with an unsustainable pace for the other riders. Niki Tuuli took his first victory of the season, trimming off almost four seconds to Caricasulo, who got the better of Oncu, third at the finish. A very long surge for our Niki, who was finally able to reap the benefits of all the hard work done with the team during the season, especially after his injury that stopped him being able to race for some months. Everything is ready for Race 2 tomorrow in which Tuuli and the Mv Agusta Reparto Corse team will try in every way to be competitive again and fight for the podium
“Today was a perfect day and I felt good since Superpole. The race was very difficult. I had to pay close attention to tyre wear as the new asphalt destroyed them after a few laps. I focused on driving, tried to be as ‘clean’ as possible on every lap and ... we did it! We won, MV Agusta hadn't won for a long time and I'm happy to have brought the team back to victory. We never gave up. After the injury I trained every day to get to this, and I succeeded. Tomorrow we will try to be competitive again, we know it won't be easy but on this track I feel strong. I am very happy with this result and I want to thank my family, the sponsors, the whole team, especially my team and Andrea Quadranti”.
