WorldSSP – A gritty showing by Norrodin and Mackenzie in race 1 at Magny-Cours

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda team is competing in round nine of the 2023 Supersport World Championship at the Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit in France this weekend.

Riders Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin were out in hot and sunny conditions for the morning’s qualifying session. Already in the opening stages of this brief 20-minute Superpole phase, Malaysian rider Adam was able to improve significantly on the times he set in yesterday’s practices. The practice was brought to a brief halt mid-session following a crash for another rider. Once the session resumed, Norrodon continued to shave precious tenths off his time, ultimately setting a best of 1’42.610 to place twenty-sixth. Mackenzie unfortunately was unable to return to the track following the red flag, the young Brit qualified in thirty-first place with a 1’43.623 set at the very start of the session.

Race 1 got underway as scheduled at 3.15pm local time (CET). From row nine of the grid, Adam made up significant ground through lap one, climbing six positions to twentieth. Tarran had work to do as he got away from the eleventh row. Gradually getting into a rhythm, the Brit slowly but surely made up places and was lying twenty-fifth by lap three. Both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders picked up the pace through the central stages, setting their respective fastest laps of the race. While Norrodin held twentieth through the final stages before passing Kofler to cross the line nineteenth, team-mate Mackenzie completed the race in twenty-fourth position.

Adam Norrodin P19

“Quite a good race today, to be honest. I made a good start and immediately passed a few riders. I then battled with a few of the guys and pushed hard on the brakes to catch those who passed me. I felt I was at the limit at the front, but I was able to stay upright and stick with the group. When I saw some of them start to struggle, I took the opportunity to push, and in the end we finished nineteenth. I have a bit of a sore shoulder following my injury at Suzuka but it’s no big deal and the Clinica is helping me with that. Tomorrow I hope we can make another strong start and score a better result in race 2.”

Tarran Mackenzie P24

“We had a small problem at the start of qualifying and so, after the red flag, I wasn’t able to go back on track because the team needed to resolve the issue. This unfortunately meant I qualified last. On lap one of the race, I had to avoid a rider who crashed ahead of me, after which it was difficult to gain ground. I was able to make some consistent lap times but I’m still lacking initial power, which affects me in sector 1 and means I have to try and make up for that over the rest of the lap. Hopefully if I can have a cleaner first lap tomorrow, we can run a better race.”

Full Results *Courtesy of WorldSBK