Round four of the Supersport World Championship will see the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team take on the Italian circuit of Cremona, a recent addition to the calendar, in that the track hosted the production-derived bikes for the first time in 2024. 

The 2025 season has, to date, brought mixed results for PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Kaito Toba and Syarifuddin Azman. After making a strong start to the year in Australia, Toba has suffered a number of setbacks and inconveniences during the last two championship rounds. The Japanese rider is therefore very keen to get back on an even keel and put more points on the board at Cremona. At last year’s edition, Toba ran a strong qualifying but was unlucky in the races, his results falling short of expectation. For rookie Azman, this will be a totally new circuit, which he will do his best to learn quickly in Friday’s practice. The Malaysian faces a steep learning curve this year, competing with the CBR600RR for the first time. 

Cremona Circuit was inaugurated in 2011 and known as the San Martino del Lago Circuit until 2015. Having signed a five-year contract with the championship organisers, the Cremona Circuit hosted the production-derived series for the first time in 2024. The shortest track on the WorldSSP calendar, it was resurfaced and extended from 3.702 to 3.768 km in readiness for the 2024 edition. The layout incorporates six right-hand turns and seven left-handers.

Kaito Toba

“I’m looking forward to traveling to Cremona for the next WSSP round. We’ll do our best to set out in the right way, as Friday’s free practice will be key in terms of deciding the direction in which to work if we want to be competitive. It’s a pretty small track, though the straight is fairly long, and it’ll be important to start from a decent position on the grid for the races. Let’s see what the weekend brings; we’ll work to do our best.”

Syarifuddin Azman

“Cremona is a track I’ve never seen and so I’m not sure what to expect. We’ll find out in Friday’s practice, I guess! I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike anyway, and the weather forecast looks good, so if we can work well already in practice then I think we can be in a position to run solid races on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s see what we can do.”

Track Information:

Country: Italy
Name: Cremona Circuit
Length: 3.768 km
Start/finish: 400 m
Turns: 7 left, 6 right

LAP RECORDS: Best lap – Montella (Ducati) 1'32.117(2024). Superpole – Huertas (Ducati) 1'31.478 (2024).

2024 SSP RESULTS: 

Race 1 - 1. Huertas (Ducati); 2. Manzi (Yamaha); 3. Montella (Ducati)

Race 2 – 1.Manzi (Yamaha); 2. Huertas (Ducati); 3. Booth-Amos (Triumph)

Weekend schedule (CET):

Friday
11.20 – 12.00 – SSP Free Practice 1
16.00 – 16.40 – SSP Superpole

Saturday
9.50 - 10.00 – SSP Warm-up
15.15 – SSP Race 1

Sunday
9.40 – 9.50 – SSP Warm-up
15.15 – SSP Race 2