After stepping up to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship on a full-time basis after six seasons competing in the FIM Supersport World Championship, Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) has been quietly impressing with top ten grid positions and fighting for the same positions in racing including for the Pirelli Made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Round.

At the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, the 2017 WorldSSP Champion qualified in seventh in the Tissot Superpole session for the second round in succession after shadowing Kawasaki stablemate and six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), enabling the Frenchman to take a third row start for Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race.

Mahias converted seventh in Race 1 to 11^th at the finish line as other riders made their way past the 32-year-old, while Mahias retired from the Tissot Superpole Race after crashing on his own at Turn 6. His Superpole performance meant he started Race 2 from tenth place, but he lost one place throughout the race, coming home in 11^th.

Looking back on his Sunday at Misano, Mahias said: “It’s been a difficult Sunday, but an important and constructive one. In Warm Up, and in cooler temperatures, the bike was behaving very well. In the Superpole Race I was doing well and fighting for ninth when unfortunately I crashed at turn 6. I’m really disappointed because I was unable to conclude what could have been a good race. In Race 2, I battled to reach the top ten and finished 11th. I improved both my lap times and my feeling with the bike and I’m very pleased about that. I want to thank my team as, after this morning’s crash, they did a great job to sort my bike and are helping me to understand how to exploit the potential of our Ninja”.

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