Starting from the front row Can had strong podium ambitions and even led the race for a period on lap two, and then again on lap four.

He would end up finishing eighth after losing tyre grip earlier than was expected. He was in first or second place until lap eight, when he got passed by two riders into T1. With nine laps to go Can could not defend when another group of riders passed him and he had to fight hard all the way to the finish.

After experiencing two unlucky moments in the opening round last month Öncü got his championship score off the mark with eight points for his Race One endeavours in Catalunya. He is 13th in the overall rankings with one more Catalunya race to come this weekend.

Can Öncü, stated: “We tried to improve our pace today and improved a lot. But, we will have to work to be even better. It is not so easy and there is not anything special to say except we have to work harder. We set a good lap time in Superpole but in the race itself we had a big drop and I hope tomorrow we can find some more grip to make a better race. The initial pace we had was for the win, so we need to work more for Race Two and let’s see how it goes.”

Marcel Brenner (Viamo Racing Kawasaki) placed 19th in the opening Catalunya race and Hikari Okubo (Vince 64 Kawasaki) was 24th. Gabriele Giannini (Prodina Kawasaki) ended his first race of 2024 in 27th place out of 34 competing riders.

The WorldSSP riders will now compete in a second 18-lap race at Barcelona - Catalunya on Sunday 24 March.

                                                 #NinjaSpirit