With the FIM Supersport World Championship heading to Donington Park, the on-track action would come down to Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) vs Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) for glory. Both riders took the chequered flag in first – Huertas in Race 1, Montella in Race 2 – although both wins went to the #99 after a last-lap track limits infringement by Montella in Sunday’s final race.
After taking pole in Friday’s Tissot Superpole session, Huertas led the way at Donington en route to a third consecutive victory and, with Montella finishing third, extending his Championship lead over the #55 to 20 points. It was a fairly comfortable win for the 2021 WorldSSP300 Champion, who came home more than four seconds clear of Stefano Manzi (Pata Prometeon Ten Kate Racing) in second.
Discussing Race 1 and playing down his Championship hopes, Huertas said: “It was a really good race. I enjoyed it a lot. We made a good tyre choice and then I think it was an incredible race. I won, the SCX tyre was the right choice. At the end, I saw Yari was struggling a little bit at the end, but I think, for us, it was incredible. The team did a perfect job as always. We are growing but we still need to grow more before thinking about the Championship. We are making the correct steps. In Australia, we arrived for the first podium and then the first victory. Now we’re on a winning run.”
Race 2 was a completely different sort of battle. Huertas and Montella couldn’t be separated in the early stages before a red flag halted proceedings following a multi-rider crash at Turn 9. The race was restarted over a 12-lap distance and Montella seemed to have it under control, leading Huertas across the line. However, over the final couple of laps, Huertas had closed the gap and on the run to Turn 9, was right behind his rival. Taking different lines, Montella touched the green on the inside of the corner and was given a one-place penalty, promoting Huertas to P1.
Reflecting on his fourth consecutive win, Huertas said: “It was a difficult one. In the beginning, we had everything under control for the long race. I was calm and I think we had a bit more over a long distance. With the 12 laps, we suffered a little bit, because the other riders could make a step like Yari. I’m happy because, even with this, I could put him under pressure in the last laps and he made the mistake of touching the green. It’s really important for me to be working like this. Even today, when it was going to be a good second position, we finished first because we kept the pressure on.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com