WorldSSP champion Sandro Cortese celebrates.
DOHA: The final race of the WorldSBK Championship was cancelled last night at the rain-drenched Losail International Circuit (LIC), denying this year’s runaway title holder Jonathan Rea the chance to create a new record.
The Kawasaki giant on Friday equalled the record of most wins in a season when he scorched to victory in Race 1 of the final round. However, yesterday’s heavy downpour in the country forced the WorldSBK Race Direction to tweet that Race 2 was cancelled ‘due to safety concerns’.
Race direction said in a statement: “Following the World Supersport race, the safety commission (FIM, Dorna WSBK Organization and SBK riders) met. Due to an increase of standing water, as well taking into account the difference between power and tyres of WorldSBK and WorldSSP bikes, this led us to decide racing would not be safe in these conditions.”
After Race 1 on Friday night, Rea had increased his overall tally 545 points leaving Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Michael Van Der Mark battling for the second spot on the standings. With no race taking place last night at a rain-battered LIC, Davies’ overnight tally of 356 points saw him seal the second spot ahead of Van Der Mark (333).
Before the decision to cancel Race 2 of WorldSBK was announced last evening, there was enough time to stage Race 2 of the WorldSSP Championship.
French star Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) won the final race of the season in dramatic fashion but German rookie Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) sealed the championship by finishing second ahead of fellow title contender Jules Cluzel (NRT) who crashed on the final lap.
The crash meant that Mahias crossed the line in first for his third win of the WorldSSP season. The top spot in yesterday’s race also allowed him to seal the runner-up spot in the overall standings.
“I am so speechless! I am so happy and I can enjoy this moment,” Cortese, 28, said yesterday. “I have to say thank you to my team, they picked me up after such a difficult winter, I had no ride and they believed in me.
“I think we did the maximum we could this year, we gave everything all year, and the people in my team are great. And a final thank you to my family, they helped me in hard times and I cant wait to get back home,” he added with a smile.
In what was a 12-lap race, Mahias clocked a time of 24’49.552 to win the final battle of the season, finishing the day’s proceedings just 2.000 seconds ahead of plucky Cortese who made the most of Cluzel’s unfortunate crash a lap before the end of the race.
Cortese ended the season with a tally of 208 points while Mahias manage 185 points. Cluzel ended with 183 points.
After exciting duels in the 12-lap race, things began to move in Cortese’s favour after race-winner Mahias took the lead with just three laps to go.
After numerous passes among Cortese and Mahias, misfortune struck Cluzel - who in an effort to surge ahead - on Turn 7 slipped and fell allowing Mahias’ GRT Yamaha team-mate Federico Caricasulo grabbing the third spot after a fantastic climb up from seventh position on the grid.
Randy Krummenacher, Corentin Perolari, Hector Barbera, Raffaele De Rosa, Hans Soomer and Peter Sebestyen completed the top in the final race of the season.
