Montella makes it six

A race long battle between the WorldSSP title contenders saw a sixth win of the season for Yari Montella. The result clinched a second Manufacturers’ Championship for Ducati in the Supersport class.

Starting from pole position the Barni Spark Racing Team rider led every lap but he was pushed all the way by Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team).

Huertas chased Montella for the duration of the 18 lap and the top three spent every lap in the same order with Stefano Manzi in third position. It was a tense race though with the gap never stretching too far and on the final lap Montella dug deep to set the fastest lap of the race and finally break away from Huertas.

Manzi’s 16th podium of the campaign was enough to clinch the team’s championship for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing but the Italian was under pressure throughout much of the race. With Valentin Debise (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) closing in on the final step of the podium the French rider crashed on Lap 14.

A thrilling nine rider group scrapped it out for fifth position at the flag. Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) led them home. The Italian narrowly defeated his fellow MV Agusta rider Marcel Schroetter to the line by mere hundredths of a second while Simone Corsi was seventh.

Corsi’s finish, from seventh on the grid, saw the Italian take the initiative in the Supersport Challenge standings where he now holds a five point lead over Tom Edwards.

Championship highlights

Huertas holds at 36 point advantage. The Spaniard will become World Champion if he holds a 50 point advantage after Race 2.

P1 | Yari Montella | Barni Spark Racing Team

“It was incredible to win this race. To set the fastest lap on the final lap was amazing. I focused on maintaining my race pace and I wanted to push hard on every lap. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done so far this weekend. We need to keep pushing and to try to finish ahead of Adrian as often as possible. Towards the end of the race, I had a brake issue and lost some concentration. This allowed Adrian to close the gap a bit. But when I saw the gap was 0.3 seconds on the last lap, I knew I had to stay focused and push to win. I’m happy with the result, but we need to keep working hard and see what tomorrow brings.”

WorldSSP Race 1 Results

1. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team)

2. Adrián Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) +1.321s

3. Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) +5.391s

4. Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) +17.164s

5. Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) +22.548s

6. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +22.603s

Fastest lap: Yari Montella, Ducati – 1’40.266s

Championship Standings

1. Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 390 points

2. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) 354 points

3. Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) 340 points