For Hannes Soomer (Yamaha, Kallio Racing), Round 11 of the World Championships in the Supersport class has been like a ride on the roller coaster, where you have to drive through a steep slope before reaching the top. " I have never had such a crappy Friday in the WSSP class before," said Hannes after Saturday's race, which he finished in P13.

"We continued where we left off in Spain, which resulted in a bike that was equally slow everywhere. It didn't take the turns and it didn't want to get out of them, and if in the past you could be satisfied at least in fast bends, now we were there as fast as in slow ones."

Therefore the team decided to start again from scratch on Saturday morning and proceed from the basic settings. "Before that, we were probably overthinking, because in the qualification I immediately felt more confident and also in the first race, during which I managed to improve the position so much that the fastest were in sight again. On Friday, I searched for the limit and had a small crash without finding it, but in today's qualification, I could be satisfied with the fast sections. The Portimao circuit is technically and physically demanding, and here the slow sections have to be perfect because otherwise, the gain in the faster turns will not balance what has been lost elsewhere.”

But what happens next? "I'm not throwing in the towel and will push cautiously on Sunday. Compared to Friday, we were a second faster on Saturday.” Later, we have to work hard to recover 100% of the physique for the new season, Soomer added.