"I caught the slipstream and crossed the finish line like a rocket" – Fernandez on his dream debut weekend
A pole position and a race win in his first race weekend was not a bad way for Benat Fernandez to start his WorldSSP300 career
Benat Fernandez (Team #109 Retro Traffic Kove) has burst onto the FIM World Supersport 300 scene after his dominant performance at the Pirelli Portuguese Round. The 17-year-old from San Sebastian sailed across the finish line fastest among the grid on Friday to earn his first-ever pole position in the Tissot Superpole, then he closed the weekend on Sunday with a last-second overtake past Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki), crossing the finish line a mere 0.039s ahead of the Australian rider.
The Spanish rider was in no mood to wait to etch his name into the WorldSSP300 history books, claiming his first pole on Friday in the season’s opening Superpole of the 2025 campaign. On Sunday, in Race 2, Fernandez’s win was only the second ever win for the Chinese manufacturer, Kove; and it made him the 6th youngest winner of a race in the category at 17 years, 4 months and 11 days.
“The race was crazy, overtaking all the time, also, we were fighting each other and even touched at on point in the slipstream,” said the #7. “It was chaos, I don’t know how I managed but on the last lap I got from the inside and also on the outside to pass. Finally, I was in second, I was thinking about slipstreaming on the last sector, I sacrificed the entry on the last corner so that I could open the throttle earlier, and I happened to catch the slipstream, overtaking and crossing the finish line like a rocket.”
In Race 1, the rookie narrowly missed out on a podium as he claimed fourth. Fernandez was very complementary of the bike, the lightweight frame helping the #9 to his 1’55.238s, pipping Thompson for the pole. His pole position start set him up for a P4 finish in Race 1, narrowly missing the podium by a margin of only 0.013s behind fellow Spanish rider Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) in third.
Discussing how he was able to take steps on the bike after riding it in anger for the first time, Fernandez said: “It was my first race, I wasn’t expecting this. All the work that these guys do on the team, the guys with Kove who prepare the setup is incredible. This week, I learned how light the bike is very light, this helps me turn very well and that I can be more aggressive than I thought I could beforehand. Saturday I was a bit tense but today I just overtook all of them without much pressure, I did the last lap chill, and it was a very fun race!”
Catch Benat Fernandez and the rest of the WorldSSP300 paddock next time out at Assen Pirelli Dutch Round using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
