Yari Montella hails “strong” rookie WorldSBK season despite “mistakes”

Despite a number of “mistakes”, Yari Montella believes he had a “strong” rookie WorldSBK season and has set high targets for 2026.

Montella came into World Superbike in 2025 as the bronze medallist in the 2024 WorldSSP season, beaten by Adrian Huertas (who moved to Moto2) and Stefano Manzi (who stayed another year in Supersport and became champion while signing a deal to step up to Superbike with Yamaha in 2026).

His rookie year was one of flashes of potential and speed, but too many mistakes. From 36 races, Montella retired in 12 of them, finishing ahead of only Ryan Vickers – who lost his ride for 2026 – in the riders’ standings, among his fellow Ducati riders.

Montella is not afraid to admit he made mistakes in 2025, but prefers to focus his evaluation of his rookie campaign on the speed he was able to show at times.

“It was a strong season, I think the strongest of my career because we started in a good way,” Montella said, speaking to WorldSBK.com at EICMA.

“At the end we missed something, we started to make some mistakes. 

“At the end, it’s just my first season to understand how it works in Superbike. We’ll see the next one”

He added: “I want to say thanks to Barni because they believed in me. Also during this year, after some crashes, some mistakes, they always supported me, like ‘We try to make our best, we try to understand you, we try to work.’ 

“For a rider I think it’s a really good motivation to try to do the best. 

“Next year, it will be a strong year for me because it’s the second one in Superbike so I need to show my potential and we already worked on it to arrive at the first race of the year already ready.”

2026 will be an important year for Montella, one in which he needs to show his potential not only in flashes but in consistent results.

“I want and I need and we can fight for the top-five,” he said.

“This year, at the end, for sure, we made a lot of mistakes, we didn’t make the results that we want, but at the end the potential was quite good. I felt quite good with the bike. 

“We have some speed to show, so I think the next one will be my second year, I have much more experience, I know how the tracks work with Superbike, so I think it will be better for sure.”

It is also a year that will see Montella alongside a new teammate at Barni, even if he himself is staying put, as two-time World Superbike Champion Alvaro Bautista joins the team after a four-year second stint in the factory Ducati team.

For 25-year-old Montella, Bautista’s experience will be invaluable in 2026.

“I think he’s a good guy, for sure with much more experience than me,” he said.

“From my side, I have just to learn from him and it will be like a good motivation for me, try to understand his type of work, his method. We’ll see.”

Biggest adaptation? “The race approach”

Having stepped up from Supersport in 2025, there were several things for Montella to get his head around, from the Ducati Panigale V4 R to the intensity of the competition, especially in WorldSBK’s three-race format.

“The level is completely different,” Montella said, comparing Superbike to Supersport.

“Also, the race approach was different because you have [more races], one sprint – it’s like a jungle because everyone, every rider wants to come into the top-nine for Race 2. 

“So, it’s something strong that impressed me at the beginning; also the work with the tyres, with the electronics during the race because I never used it in Supersport. This one is much more different from Supersport to Superbike.”