WorldSSP300: First WorldSSP300 victory for Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) after last-lap fight with Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team).

P1 – Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha)

• Vannucci started from the front of the grid after securing his first WorldSSP300 pole position
• After building a gap of two seconds, Diaz hauled Vannucci back to set up a last-lap battle

“It’s a special day for me because I’m at my home race. It’s such a special win! In the race, I tried to push in the first laps and tried to push all race long. In the end, I won with a very small margin. Unfortunately, the tyre went down so fast, and I tried to manage the bike for the rest of the race. I hope tomorrow I can win again!” 

P2 – Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team)

• Despite having taken the lead on the last lap, Diaz finished in second place 0.020s behind Vannucci
• In the top-ten closest finishes in WorldSSP300, Diaz has been runner-up on three occasions
• He now stands in third in the Championship standings, two points behind Garcia, and one behind Di Sora.

“It was a very good race, it’s a great result for my Championship. It was a really hot race, the first hot one this season. It was difficult to catch up with Vannucci because he created a gap within a few laps. With six or seven laps to go, my tyre started to drop very fast and another time I lose for almost nothing, but I’ll work to be better in the last laps. Tomorrow, I think I can win the race.” 

P3 – Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo)

• Di Sora was third as he maintained his Championship challenge, as he now only stands one point behind Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing).
• He was able to withstand a late-race challenge from wildcard Alfonso Coppola (VM Racing Team) to claim his 11th podium finish in WorldSSP300.

“It was complicated to manage the tyres with the hot conditions. The tyre did go down faster than I thought so it was quite hard to keep up with the front guys. I had to use a lot of my rear tyre and at the end of the race I was at the limit. Third place and important points for the Championship so I’m really happy. Tomorrow, I expect Vannucci to be fast again so my goal will be to keep up with him and to try to win the race.”  

Italian wildcard Alfonso Coppola finished just outside the podium just 0.091s behind Di Sora with who he had a late-race battle.

Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki), who had qualified on the front row, was penalised with a double Long Lap Penalty for jumping the start. He was able to fight back for a top-five finish, ahead of Spanish rider Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) and Dirk Geiger (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki).

Championship leader Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) finished in twelfth place after starting from 22^nd on the grid. He remains the Championship leader, but the top three is now separated by just two points.

WorldSSP300 resumes on Sunday from 9:50 (Local Time) followed by Race 2 at 14:00.

WorldSSP300 Results Race 1 

1. Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha)
2. Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) +0.020s
3. Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flemmbo) +0.465s
4. Alfonso Coppola (VM Racing Team) +0.556s
5. Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) +7.575
6. Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) +8.260s.

Championship standings (after Race 1 – Round 4)

1. Marc Garcia (ESP) Yamaha (102 points)
2. Samuel Di Sora (FRA) Kawasaki  (101 points)
3. Alvaro Diaz (ESP) Yamaha(100 points)

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of Dorna WSBK Organization Srl