Suzuki Speed Racing's Santi Barragn raced to third place at the weekend's opening round of the Spanish Superbike (CEV) Championship at the Catalonia Circuit in Spain.

In his first ride aboard the team's GSX-R1000, Barragn battled through difficult windy and rain-lashed conditions to qualify for Sunday's race in seventh position ahead of team-mate Adrian Bonastre in 10th.

Barragn quickly climbed to third in the race with Bonastre fifth before the pair dropped back to seventh and sixth mid-race, but in the closing stages - and after limiting tyre wear on their Dunlops - Barragn climbed up into third and Bonastre fourth.

Santi Barragan:

"I am very happy with the result and with the great job done by the Suzuki Speed team to make me feel comfortable with the Suzuki GSX-R1000. The race has been very hard; at the beginning I felt uncomfortable, but I started to have a great feeling as the race progressed and I was able to get back in with the leaders."

Adrin Bonastre:

"Great result today. I made a good start, reached fifth and from then I maintained a good pace that got us up to fourth position. The team has done a great job as, after practice, I did not think we would be so high-up today."

Jose Regaa - Team Manager:

"Weather conditions have complicated our weekend; the team and Dunlop have worked very hard together and we have shown that work and consistency gets a good result. Our riders knew how to manage the race and it was great result."

The next round of the Spanish CEV Superbike series takes place at Motorland Aragon on May 26th.

CEV REPSOL 2013 Stock Extreme- Circuito de Catalua Results: 1 Xavi Fores (Ducati) - 36:15.857. 2 Ivan Silva (BMW) +8.316. 3 Santi Barragn (Team Suzuki Speed Racing) +9.072. 4 Adrian Bonastre (Team Suzuki Speed Racing) +11.991. 5 Carmelo Morales (Kawasaki) + 15.573.