Uriostegui and Zanca Shine In The Czech Republic
A weekend of rain and shine was the story at Autodrom Most this past weekend with Team 109 riders Alessandro Zanca and Juan Pablo Uriostegui back on track in the latest round of the 2023 FIM Supersport World Championship.
Qualifying tenth and twenty-sixth respectively, Juan Pablo and Alessandro were both confident ahead of the opening race on Saturday and with the rain clouds gathering the stage was set for the first ever flag to flag in WorldSSP300.
With both riders having to complete pitstops the focus was as much on the team as the riders. Perfectly executed tyre changes enabled both the #19 and the #51 to finish with points – Juan Pablo securing a superb twelfth with Alessandro a couple of seconds behind in fifteenth.
Sunday saw a torrential downpour just moments before the scheduled race start. A shortened eight lap race took place without Juan Pablo, who suffered a small mechanical issue. Zanca was able to finish the race, held in tricky conditions, in twelfth.
The next round of the series takes place in France at the Magny-Cours circuit in mid-August.
Alessandro Zanca:
“The weekend didn’t start badly even if the conditions were quite mixed and unpredictable. I’m sorry I didn’t do a good Superpole but in any case, I managed to score a few points in the races. I thank the team for the work they have done and my sponsors.”
Juan Pablo Uriostegui:
“On the first day I tried to learn the track. The target was to try to go fast each lap and try to get the best setup for the bike. In the qualifying I qualified tenth and in race one I made a good start but then I had a touch with another rider which made me go off the track and I lost a lot of positions. I rejoined the track but then the rain came. I stopped in the box to change to wet tyres. The team did a great pit stop and I finished in P12. In the second race, unfortunately I had some mechanic problems. When I started to change the gears, the lever was damaged so I couldn’t change to third gear and I had to retire.”