At the Automotodrom Brno, Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) finished off the podium for a fifth consecutive race. What was a rare occurrence last season – the Frenchman was only outside the rostrum places four times, including two retirements – has become startlingly common this season, with Mahias struggling since the European season of the FIM Supersport World Championship kicked off.

Despite this, Mahias is still only 19 points behind championship leader Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) – with five races to go, it is still very much in the GRT Yamaha rider’s hands to reclaim his WorldSSP championship. But for a rider who built last year’s success on consistency, the current situation is anything but pleasant.

Mahias was, nonetheless, satisfied with his work at Brno: “I’m a little bit happy, because I didn’t crash, I finished fourth, I took my maximum points for the championship. In reality, it was my maximum for the race. It’s difficult to push more. I hope at Misano we’ll see a new step on my bike”.

“It’s a very difficult circuit for us, we knew that at Brno we would suffer”, Mahias said after the race. “It’s a circuit with a lot of straight lines, and we know we’re very slow on straights”.

The Frenchman expects improvements for the remaining five races: “At Misano, we should have new specifications on the bike and motor, to get more power. I hope Misano will be a better circuit. After that, there’s a break. We hope to be returning to the podium in the second half of the season, to really try and win races. We have lost nothing yet in the championship, I limited our damages to the maximum today, so I’m happy about that”.

Catch the best highlights from an epic WorldSSP race thanks to the WorldSBK VideoPass.