Xavi Cardelús Plagued by Mechanical Woes, Finishes 26th and 29th at Misano

Andorran rider Xavi Cardelús struggled with persistent mechanical issues on his Cerba Yamaha Racing bike throughout the World Supersport Championship round at Italy's Misano Marco Simoncelli circuit, ending 26th in Race 1 and 29th in Race 2.

Cardelús started the weekend with a 32nd-place qualification—antepenultimate among 34 riders—after posting a fastest lap of 1'38"961, over two seconds behind pole-sitter Can Oncu's time. This lined him up on the penultimate row for both races.

During Saturday's Race 1, he climbed a few spots in the opening laps from his 32nd grid position before a third-lap problem sent him to the pits. After mechanics worked on the bike, he returned three laps down and completed the race two laps behind the winner, prioritizing data gathering to tackle the season's ongoing troubles. "We can't shake these problems no matter what," he said.

Race 2 on Sunday saw him launch from the 11th row amid a weekend blighted by an engine failure and the prior day's pit stop. Despite a personal best lap of 1'39.0 and solid pace through the opening third of the race, Cardelús lost ground in the closing stages and could not keep up with those ahead, crossing the line 29th—antepenultimate among finishers. "Given how the weekend was going and starting from the back of the grid, we couldn't expect much and that's how it turned out," he noted. He added that the early laps were not completely off, but "in the last third everything got complicated again and I started losing rhythm."

The team highlighted the initial stint as a relative positive. Cardelús called for in-depth data analysis to pinpoint issues and reverse the frustrating trend. "We have to look at the data, analyse it, and see what the inflection point is and how to tackle it to turn around this increasingly disappointing situation," he said.

The championship moves to Donington Park on 12-14 July.