Rookie Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) took his first competitive MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship rides at the rollercoaster Portimao circuit today across their pair of Free Practice sessions. Montella impressed in each, landing a P5 in FP1, and a P7 in FP2, battling it out near the front of the pack alongside his veteran teammate Danilo Petrucci. The rookie rider may very well be soon in contention for top independent if he is able to maintain this form, as across both sessions his times were competitive with other independent riders like Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) and Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing).

In FP1, Montella posted a best time of 1’41’099s to claim fifth place, with that time coming at the end of an eight-lap run, seven of which were in the 1’41s bracket. He improved his time by four tenths in FP2, which came in his final stint, although his 1’40.788s was the only time in the 1’40s he managed throughout Friday, suggesting that consistency could be an issue for the #5 but the potential is there.

On his success, even Montella himself seemed surprised with the results he was able to achieve on such a vaunted, technical circuit. Several Ducati Panigale V4Rs were in the top 10 once again. With that being the case, Montella deserves credit for his consistently fast performances across the two sessions today.

On his weekend-opening success, Montella said: “I wasn’t expecting to finish the day so well, I’m so happy and so proud of the work we were able to do today, we tried something new on the bike, and I started to feel better and better on the bike. I’m so happy because we are working in the right way, we are going step by step, session by session trying new things whether they work or not, and in the end today it worked. That makes me really happy for today, we will see tomorrow.”

Montella’s speedy times last round in Australia were further evidence that Montella’s WorldSSP talent has had no issues translating into WorldSBK. Today’s finishes similarly seem to indicate that Montella can continue to feature in the top 10 of the timesheets in the season to come. If he can continue to make consistent steps like he speaks on wanting to do, the already very tightly contested top 5 fight might have another challenger joining the fray.

“I think I probably started the season better than I expected,” said Montella. “At Phillip Island my goal was to finish the race in the top 10, I have the same goal this weekend. I need to be more consistent and that’s what I’m focused on. For sure, it was a pleasant surprise to finish the day today how I did, my feeling with the bike and some new things we tried with the settings helped me enjoy the riding I was doing today. My goal is to continue going forward like this, always session by session improving. That can be the bike, my riding style; we analyze a lot my data, as well as the data of other riders. I need to continue to work like this, focusing on my target and continue to improve the small things as much as possible. We will have to see where we are by the end of the weekend.”

Keep up with Montella as he continues to take on the WorldSBK grid with the WorldSBK VideoPass!