The successor to Dominique Aegerter in the Yamaha team Ten Kate, Stefano Manzi, secured the first pole of the 2023 Supersport World Championship on a drying track. Can Öncü (Kawasaki) and Yari Montella (Ducati) completed the front row for the first race. Nicolo Bulega, who dominated the free practice sessions, started the season in fourth place, Supersport rookie Marcel Schrötter (MV Agusta) in sixth place.
When the warm-up lap started it was cloudy and 22 degrees Celsius, but when the race started it started to rain. When Adrian Huertas (Kawasaki) and Yari Montella (Ducati) crashed heavily on lap 4, the race was stopped. Both had to be taken to the hospital.
The restart over twelve laps took place with the status when the race was stopped. The front row consisted of Öncü, Glenn van Straalen (Yamaha) John McPhee (Kawasaki), row 2 of Andrea Mantovani (Yamaha), Manzi and Raffaele De Rosa (Ducati). Marcel Schrötter started the race from twelfth position. Because it was raining once more on the out-lap, the start was delayed once more and the drivers switched to intermediate or rain tires on the starting grid. Some stayed on slicks.
After Öncü went off the track on the new warm-up lap, race control gave the drivers another five minutes on the grid to reconsider their tire choice. But Öncü fell and Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta) crashed into the bike lying on the track. Both Turks might not take part in the race.
The first Supersport race of the 2023 season finally started successfully with a delay of 50 minutes and only ten laps left. One can imagine that the nerves of the drivers were badly scratched.
Tire choice and track condition had a big impact on the result as it rained once more with three laps remaining. In the end Nicolo Bulega won comfortably with rain tires at the front and rear. Second place on the podium went to Nicolas Spinelli (Yamaha), third place went to rookie John McPhee (Kawasaki).
Marcel Schrötter didn’t have the best tire choice and at times fell out of the top 10 to cross the finish line in seventh place following ten laps.
This is how the race went:
Start: Mantovani ahead of Manzi, McPhee and Bulega into the first corner. Schrotter in 6th place.
Lap 1: Bulega and McPhee 2.3s ahead of Mantovani, Schrötter and Tuuli.
Lap 2: Bulega leads by 1.7s, then McPhee, Nicolas Spinelli (Yamaha), Schrötter, Niki Tuuli (Triumph) and Tarran Mackenzie (Honda).
Lap 3: Bulega 2.6s ahead of McPhee and 7.4s ahead of Spinelli, Schrötter and Mackenzie.
Lap 4: Spinelli, Schrötter, Mackenzie and Manzi fight for 3rd place. Manzi is on the rise with Intermediate.
Lap 5: Manzi (4th) fastest man on track but 8.6s behind Bulega. Schrötter (7th) almost 3 seconds slower than the Italian.
Round 6: It’s raining once more in places! Bulega 3.8s ahead of McPhee, Manzi and Spinelli. Schrötter 13 seconds back in 9th place.
Lap 7: Bulega’s lead over McPhee is melting by a second per lap! Norrodin overthrown. It’s raining harder.
Lap 8: Bulega benefits from the rain and is 3.8s ahead of McPhee and 5.3s ahead of Spinelli. Schrötter (7th) leads a chasing group. Fall Mantovani.
Lap 9: Spinelli grabs second place from McPhee.
Final Lap: Bulega wins 0.9s ahead of Spinelli and 2.9s ahead of McPhee. Schrotter seventh.
| Result World Supersport Championship Phillip Island, Race 1: | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Diff |
| 1. | Nicolo Bulega (I) | Ducati | |
| 2. | Nicolas Spinelli (I) | Yamaha | + 0,942 sec |
| 3. | John McPhee (GB) | Kawasaki | + 2,965 |
| 4. | Niki Tuuli (FIN) | Triumph | + 11,624 |
| 5. | Tarran Mackenzie (UK) | Honda | + 15,838 |
| 6. | Stefano Manzi (I) | Yamaha | + 19,700 |
| 7. | Marcel Schrotter (D) | MV Agusta | + 20,756 |
| 8. | Anupab Sarmoon (TH) | Yamaha | + 22,331 |
| 9. | Jorge Navarro (E) | Yamaha | + 22,771 |
| 10. | Federico Caricasulo (I) | Ducati | + 39,760 |
| 11. | Harry Truelove (GB) | Triumph | + 46,209 |
| 12. | Adam Norrodin (MAL) | Honda | + 54,872 |
| 13. | Valentine Debise (F) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 14. | Glenn van Straalen (NL) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 15. | Apiwath Wongthananon (TH) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 16. | Oliver Bayliss (AUS) | Ducati | + 1 Rd. |
| 17. | Rafael De Rosa (I) | Ducati | + 1 Rd. |
| 18. | Andrea Mantovani (I) | Yamaha | |
| 19. | Bahattin Sofuoglu (TR) | MV Agusta | |
| 20. | Can Öncü (TR) | Kawasaki | |
| 21. | Adrian Huertas (E) | Kawasaki | |
| 22. | Yari Montella (I) | Ducati | |
| Supersport World Championship 2023: Status following 1 of 24 races | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Points |
| 1. | Nicolo Bulega (I) | Ducati | 25 |
| 2. | Nicolas Spinelli (I) | Honda | 20 |
| 3. | John McPhee (GB) | Kawasaki | 16 |
| 4. | Niki Tuuli (FIN) | Ducati | 13 |
| 5. | Tarran Mackenzie (UK) | Honda | 11 |
| 6. | Stefano Manzi (I) | Yamaha | 10 |
| 7. | Marcel Schrotter (D) | Kawasaki | 9 |
| 8. | Anupab Sarmoon (TH) | BMW | 8 |
| 9. | Jorge Navarro (E) | Yamaha | 7 |
| 10. | Federico Caricasulo (I) | BMW | 6 |
| 11. | Harry Truelove (GB) | Kawasaki | 5 |
| 12. | Adam Norrodin (MAL) | Honda | 4 |
| 13. | Valentine Debise (F) | Yamaha | 3 |
| 14. | Glenn van Straalen (NL) | Kawasaki | 2 |
| 15. | Apiwath Wongthananon (TH) | Yamaha | 1 |
