Yari Montella reacts to extraordinary “video of the year” WorldSBK save

Yari Montella’s extraordinary save in WorldSBK FP3 in Estoril created the “video of the year”, in the Italian’s opinion.

On paper, Montella’s Saturday in Estoril was below his standards: sixth in qualifying and eighth in the race after a clumsy contact with Lorenzo Baldassarri.

But the start of the day was exceptional, the Barni Ducati rider pulling off one of the most spectacular front-end saves we’ve seen this year in any category of circuit racing, let alone WorldSBK, the tail of Montella’s Ducati oscillating as it gained and lost grip while the rider himself was trying to gather it all up.

“It was impressive,” Yari Montella said of his FP3 save, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race1.

“It was more impressive on TV than on the bike, because in slow motion it was really impressive. But it was fun. 

“It was the video of the year I think!”

Montella explained that the slide was caused by him committing to entering turn one even though he knew he was a bit faster than normal by the time he reached the turn-in point.

“I enjoyed because at the end I was pushing, we were trying to make some laps with the same tyres to understand how they work here, and I was pushing,” he said.

“In that moment, I was trying to brake strong and in that lap I was a bit faster, but I said ‘I try to go in,’ because I felt ready to make the turn. 

“But at the end I lost the front, and I was there trying to control it and at one point I recovered the front and I started to lose the rear. In that moment I said ‘Sh*t, I’m f*cked,’ because I was thinking that with the rear I was taking grip and I was going to fly. 

“But at the end I managed in some way and I’m here to tell you what happened.”

Superpole issue & over-caution

Montella’s day didn’t get much better after the save, as he encountered a problem in the Superpole session that cost him his second run. 

He was able to return to the pits, have the problem fixed, and get back out for a final attempt, but he missed the chequered flag by a few seconds on his out-lap so never got to set a time on his second run, although he thinks that wouldn’t have mattered much anyway because of the durability of the SCQ tyre this weekend.

“We exited to make the second stint of the qualifying and I was [trying to follow Bulega] to make a good lap time,” Montella said.

“But an issue, then I go into the box; we changed this part of the bike that was broken and we tried to make one lap. But we lost the possibility to make the lap time for a few seconds.

“But, honestly, I don’t know if with the tyre I was able to try to make something more because this year here it’s a strange track for the tyre. 

“We saw that during the race you need to manage a lot with the rear, also in Superpole the 100 per cent of the grip you have for one lap, but just on the second lap you start to feel the drop with the SCQ. 

“So, I was there trying to make my best, but honestly I don’t know if it was possible to make something more.”

Rear tyre management also cost Montella in the race, because he felt he was too cautious at the start while others were less concerned with conserving rear grip.

“Honestly, in Race 1, what happened is I started thinking too much on tyres, I think,” the Barni Ducati rider explained.

“Yesterday, in FP2, we saw that we destroyed too much the rear tyre, so I was worried about to ride in a way that I was killing my tyre. 

“So, at the beginning I just focused on riding in a smooth way, but I was the only one riding in that way, so it was a strange situation. 

“I think I made a mistake because I lost at the beginning a lot of positions; then the contact with Balda [Baldassarri] I lost my wings, I lost a lot of positions. I was wide on the first turn because without wings you change your reference on the braking so I made a mistake again. 

“Then, finally, I said ‘Okay, difficult race, but we need to try to take the maximum’, and step-by-step I started my race and I recovered some positions. But, honestly, I’m not too happy about today. 

“I think tomorrow we need to be in an attack mode, but not too much. 

“We are third in the championship, we have big goals – more than a podium. So, we need to be focused, we need to make our race, also seeing our direct rivals. So, I’m focused on it, but I think I need to be a little bit in attack mode, so tomorrow I will try to improve my result.”