Competition

Academy: Madness in the Final behind Handsaeme

Starting from pole position, Sami Meguetounif gave up control to Xavier Handsaeme on the third lap and dropped to 6th. Ruben Moya Lopez took 2nd in front of Alexander Simmonds and Tijmen van der Helm. Jamie Day was among the first victims, giving up on the second lap. Oliver Skov Skjellerup was fastest in 7th place ahead of Suleiman Zanfari, 16th. Francisco Melo Porto gave up on lap 4. Van der Helm was pursuing the leader Handsaeme followed by Matias Zagazeta Castro and Simmonds. 24th on the grid, the leader of the Trophy Mike van Vugt pushed to return from 14th at half distance.

Handsaeme did not slacken his effort to outstrip the chasing pack that Meguetounif was trying to reach in 6th position. The task was facilitated by Zagazeta dropping back. The Frenchman took advantage of an unsuccessful attempt to pass Zanfari to get closer and attack the young Moroccan. Van der Helm then dropped to 5th position. Meguetounif and Zanfari decided their battle on the straight, which helped their rivals. Ayrton Fontecha Martinez then took the lead of the pack more than a second behind Handsaeme ahead of van der Helme and Simmonds. The Dutchman then blocked his opponents as usual, but Simmmonds was quick to break the lock.

Handsaeme won with a beautiful maturity in front of Fontecha, Simmonds finished 3rd in front of Meguetounif and Zagazeta. Skjellerup finished ahead of van der Helme in 7th, Gabriel Nord moved up to 8th ahead of Gustavs Malins and Luka Nurmi who had regained 17 places each. Van Vugt scored the fastest lap but finished 13th. Dylan Léger, a long-time top 10 runner, dropped to 14th, while Zanfari had dropped out of the pack.

A dozen spoiler penalties altered the ranking of the race after the finish. Handsaeme remained the undisputed winner, but Meguetounif was 2nd in front of Skjellerup and van der Helm. Fontecha was only 5th, Leger was 8th in front of Jiei Okuzumi and Zagazeta.