Mackenzie makes progress in WorldSSP race 2 at Magny-Cours

Mackenzie makes progress in WorldSSP race 2 at Magny-Cours

Round nine of the 2023 Supersport World Championship drew to a close at the Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit in France today, with the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda team on track for the second of the weekend’s races with British rider Tarran Mackenzie.

The brief morning warm-up session unfortunately brought a turn 5 crash for Adam Norrodin. With the Malaysian sustaining a contusion to his right shoulder, he was sadly deemed unfit to continue by the circuit medical staff. This meant that Mackenzie was the only PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda rider on track for the second of the weekend’s 19-lap races, which got underway at 12.30pm local time (CEST).

After suffering a setback in yesterday’s qualifying that prevented him from maximising the session, Mackenzie was forced to start race 2 from the tenth row of the grid. Despite the challenges that this brought, the British rider was able to make up two positions almost immediately. Finding better pace compared to his race 1 performance, Tarran continued to make progress throughout the first two thirds of the race. The Brit gradually moved up through the field to cross the line in twentieth position.

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders currently place seventeenth and twenty-third in the championship standings, with Mackenzie holding 40 points and Norrodin 20. The next WorldSSP championship round will see the team on track at Motorland Aragón over the weekend of 22-24 September.

Tarran Mackenzie

“Today’s race was better. We made a step with the bike and I also found something in warm-up with my riding. The first few laps went better than yesterday, and I was better able to stick with the group. They got away from me at one point but then I closed in on them again later on. So overall I’m fairly happy with our race 2. We’re still lacking in a few key areas, but I feel my riding is improving, which is no bad thing, as I’m having to ride hard. We’ve improved a little in terms of the electronics this weekend too, and hopefully we can take another step at Aragón.”

Adam Norrodin

“I was unlucky to crash in morning warm-up – someone hit me from behind and I’ve injured my shoulder. As a result, I was unfortunately declared unfit to race today. A pity after yesterday’s race, which was quite positive. I hoped to be able to fight again today and perhaps improve on our race 1 performance. But now we will turn our attentions to the Aragón round in two weeks’ time.”

Full Results *Courtesy of WorldSBK