Debise doubted that a victory in Race 1 was possible: "I thought I wouldn't be able to overtake everyone on the last lap!"

The French minute: Valentin Debise performs at Balaton Park in WorldSSP!

Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory) keeps ZXMOTO at the top of the FIM Supersport World ChampionshipHe secured the Chinese manufacturer's third victory in Race 1 at Balaton Park. Third at the start of the final lap, and even in the last sector, he managed to overtake Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) and Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team). A resounding, and rather unexpected, victory to open the Motul Hungarian Grand Prix.

Initially, the Frenchman had placed his ZXMOTO 820RR sixth on the grid during the Tissot Superpole (1'42.568), conceding about half a second to pole-sitter Arenas. He quickly gained positions from the outset. Fifth on the first lap, then fourth on the following lap, he maintained this position for most of the race. The crash of leader Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) at turn 15 handed him third place. At this point, however, the victory seemed to be a battle between Oncu and Arenas.

On lap 14, #53 was 1.231s behind Oncu. Two laps later, the gap had shrunk to 0.402s, before widening again by a tenth of a second on the penultimate lap. Debise, however, remained in ambush, ready to pounce on the slightest mistake. The opportunity arose. Oncu braked too late at turn 12 (the first left-hander in the 12-13-14 sequence). The Turk ran wide, sacrificing his exit. Arenas and Debise both opted for the outside line in the long left-hander of turn 14 to prepare for the inside line at turn 15. The Frenchman executed a perfect braking point to leap from third to first place in one fell swoop. ZXMOTO thus secured his third victory in his rookie season in WorldSSP. "It was a tough race," he emphasized. I knew I lacked pure speed compared to them, but I managed to be very consistent. At one point, they started to pull away. I told myself, "Keep your pace, do what you know how to do." I focused on consistency. Towards the end, I was slowly closing the gap, but I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to overtake everyone on the last lap! I was losing too much time in the first sector, like every time I went through. I saw Oncu make a small mistake in the chicane. Albert was hesitating a bit on his line, so I widened mine. In the big left-hander, they eased off the throttle slightly. I stayed flat out, which allowed me to get around them. I had a bit of luck today, but I'm savoring this unexpected victory!

He added: “When I was falling behind, I could see they weren’t making any major mistakes, but you could feel the tension in their riding. They were pushing hard. I felt I could maintain my pace. I managed it well. I realized I had a little something extra in reserve. Faced with that kind of inaccuracy and the pressure of the final laps, anything is possible. It paid off for me this time. Sometimes you wait in vain because the guys are riding cleanly. Today, they cracked. I talked to Oncu about it, and he admitted he tried to brake too hard and locked the front wheel.”