News

Deroue wins enthralling maiden WorldSSP300 race

Sunday, 2 April 2017 13:10 GMT

Dutchman makes history with first win in new series from pole, with Spaniards Valle and Perez also on the rostrum

At the Pirelli Aragón Round on Sunday Scott Deroue (MTM HS Kawasaki) made history with victory in the first ever race of the new WorldSSP300 series, the young Dutchman joined on the podium in Spain by two Spaniards, Daniel Valle (Halcourier Racing) and Mika Perez (WILSport Racedays).

Former Moto3™ rider Deroue started on pole and used his Grand Prix experience to eventually fend off his rivals, crossing the line just 0.047s ahead of Valle after a brilliant race, with Perez also in the hunt for maximum points. Perez had led the race and looked strong for several laps but would ultimately have to settle for third, 0.127s behind Deroue.

Borja Sanchez (Halcourier Racing) was in the mix for the win too, sitting at the back of the front group over the last two laps and finally reaching the checkered flag less than a second off P1.

Angelo Licciardi (Team Trasimeno) finished in fifth place, 10 seconds behind the leading riders. Paolo Grassia (3570 Made in CIV), Giuseppe De Gruttola (SK Racing), Dorren Loureiro (DS Junior Team), Paolo Giacomini (Terra e Moto) and another ex-Moto3™ rider Ana Carrasco (ETG Racing) completed the top ten.

Mykyta Kalinin (Team MOTOXRACING) slid out of the lead with seven laps to go at turn ten, before Kimi Patova (Kallio Racing) and Chris Taylor (MTM HS Kawasaki) crashed out together at turn 17, with five laps to go.

Robert Schotman (GRT Yamaha WorldSSP300 Team) then crashed out of the podium hunt at turn 4 of the penultimate lap. Enzo de la Vega (GRT Yamaha WorldSSP300 Team) was an unfortunate crasher right at the end of the race, as he slid off on the final corner.

Avalon Biddle (Sourz Foods - Benjan Racing) and wild card Marc Garcia (Halcourier Racing) both suffered DNFs due to technical problems.