Federico Caricasulo held off a daring late raid from Jules Cluzel to win the Jerez World Supersport race, while Lucas Mahias extended his championship lead.
Sheridan Morais took the holeshot from third has he sought to close down the 32–point gap in the standings between himself and Mahias, while the Frenchman held station in fifth.
Morais‘ charge was brief, as pole man Caricasulo dispatched of the South African at Dry Sac, before Cluzel scythed through into second at the Nieto corner.
PJ Jacobsen was the next rider to demote Morais, the American doing so at Dry Sac on the following tour, while Mahias made his move at the end of the lap to grab fourth.
At the front, Cluzel moved ahead of Caricasulo at Dry Sac on the third lap, though the Italian repaid the favour at Pons corner next time around.
Caricasulo held Cluzel at bay for the next 10 laps, all the while Ant West closed down on the duo having taken third from Jacobsen after a tough battle at Turn 2 on lap 14.
However, West’s pace stalled on the final handful of laps, leaving Caricasulo and Cluzel to duel for the victory across the last lap.
Cluzel launched an attack into Dry Sac, but Caricasulo covered his line. The PTR Honda rider tried again on the inside of the Criville corner, and had another look at the fast Ferrari turn.
The pair emerged from the corner unscathed and side by side, but Caricasulo held the inside line into the final corner and led Cluzel across the line by just 0.065 seconds for his second win of the season.
West was cast 1.5s adrift at the chequered flag in third on his WorldSSP return, while Jacobsen crossed the line a lonely fourth.
Mahias settled into fifth at mid distance and remained unchallenged to the line to go 20 points clear of the absent Kenan Sofuoglu, which means the GRT Yamaha rider cannot be declared champion until Qatar despite Sofuoglu set to miss the last round.
Caricasulo and Mahias‘ efforts netted GRT the teams’ title for 2017, while Yamaha wrapped up the manufacturers’ championship.
Morais recovered to sixth in the end ahead of Kallio Racing team–mate Niki Tuuli, while leading European Cup runner Rob Hartog headed Gino Rea and Christian Gamarino.
Michael Canducci brought his Puccetti Kawasaki home in 11th ahead of Alessandro Zaccone, Hikari Okubo, the third Puccetti bike of Axel Bassani and 2017 ESS Cup winner Hannes Soomer.
Britain’s Kyle Smith was running inside the points when he fell on the penultimate lap at the final corner, while compatriot Stefan Hill crashed in the opening stages.
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