Ducati rider “mentally ready to finish fourth” before Misano WorldSBK podium gift

Yari Montella had settled for fourth place in Race 2 at the Misano WorldSBK before Axel Bassani gifted him a podium.

Montella had finished third in the first two races at Misano, but lost ground on the start of Race 2. 

He was able to quickly recover to fourth, but then spent most of the race stuck behind Bassani, close but never able to make a move.

It was only as Montella started falling back in the final third of the race that Bassani crashed out, painfully losing what seemed to be a nailed-on home race podium.

Bassani’s loss was Montella’s gain, and the Italian completed a trio of third places for the second time this season after he did the same at Most.

“A strong Sunday because this afternoon, Race 2 was completely different from [Saturday],” Yari Montella told WorldSBK.com.

“I was struggling a bit more because the condition was changed and with much wind, much heat, it was completely different; also because I missed a bit the start, then Axel [Bassani] covered the line, and then [Alex] Lowes touched me a bit and I lost some positions. 

“I changed my strategy of the race from trying to manage the position, to recover the position. 

“It was difficult because at the end, in these hot conditions, when you are in the slipstream of someone, the temperature of the tyres goes up and for that reason I was behind Axel but with no chance to try to overtake him because when I was near to him I didn’t have the right feeling to try to make something more and try an overtake. 

“Anyway, at the end, I was mentally ready to finish fourth, but [I tried] to push and put some pressure on him and I was always 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 seconds [behind Bassani] and I don’t know if it worked, but he made a mistake. 

“In this condition, you cannot make a mistake. There, turn eight, we had wind on the rear and it was easy to make a mistake. 

“Anyway, I’m so sorry for him because I know what it means [to lose] a podium at a home race. 

“But happy for the work that we’ve done, we deserve it, we worked so hard. 

“[In the Superpole Race] we were fast and I’m so happy, so proud of the job that we are doing with the team, with everyone on the team, so now just a bit of rest, just analysing data and trying to be better in the next one.”

The Misano results mean Montella is now 14 points clear of Alex Lowes in the battle for third place in the WorldSBK standings. It’s a target for the Italian to maintain that position until the end of the season, although he admits it “was not in the plan” before the season.

“We have a goal to finish third in the championship,” Montella said.

“It could be nice, unexpected because it was not in the plan, for sure. But, anyway, we are there, so we are dancing. 

“We need just to continue to enjoy like that, and thinking race-by-race. We have a goal on top to finish third in the championship, but at the same time we are thinking race-by-race and trying to always improve, always make one step more, one step closer to the front. 

“I think here in Misano, if we don’t see Race 2, the weekend was the best one, where I was a bit closer to the first– well, not first like Nicolo [Bulega], but Iker [Lecuona]. So, for that reason I’m quite happy. This is my goal at the moment.”