Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) achieved two victories in two races at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit by resisting the challenge of Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) at the end of the race to secure his second win in two days. With a maximum of 50 points earned in the Australian round of the Grand Ridge Brewery, the #55 returns to Europe full of confidence after his Australian masterclass in the World Supersport Championship.
Two out of two: Montella unbeatable, Manzi falls twice
Due to track conditions and the need to remove oil from a substantial part of the track after an oil spill in a national championship race, there was a considerable delay. As a result, the race was reduced to nine laps and therefore the mandatory pit stop was eliminated. When the lights went out, Race 1 winner Montella immediately opened up a lead of about eight tenths over his rivals, increasing it to over a second on the second lap.
While Montella managed to maintain the lead at the front, Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) were battling for second place, but as the race reached its halfway point, the gap started to decrease. A series of fast laps from Schroetter allowed him to bring Manzi and Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team), who had started from tenth on the grid, into the fight for the podium. On the sixth lap, Manzi had a crash at turn 4 and temporarily retired, rejoining the race in 15th place. However, he suffered a second fall while trying to overtake the pack on the seventh lap at turn 10, before taking his bike to the pits.
This promoted Huertas to third, while Schroetter focused on Montella in front, with the gap hovering around half a second on the seventh lap, before reducing to four tenths at the start of the last lap. Montella managed to resist Schroetter’s challenge for his second consecutive victory, his first WorldSSP double and his third win – all at Phillip Island. Schroetter’s ninth podium means he is now two away from the record for podiums without a win, while Huertas achieved his first WorldSSP podium.
