For an Italian, winning in front of your home crowd is always a special feeling and for Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team), it was all the more sweet as he took his first win of the season this weekend at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in the FIM Supersport World Championship.

A true home race for Caricasulo, and he was able to put on a perfect weekend with the fastest time on Friday, pole position and the race win and checked out for the summer break in style. With some major changes made to his YZF-R6 for the weekend, the Italian feels he now has the pace to fight for wins every weekend and even make a last attempt at the title battle.

“I am really happy,” begins Caricasulo. “It was perfect for me, the perfect weekend, I want to thank Yamaha and the team for the big step they gave me. Now we have all we need to win and we won in the first race, so I am really happy. I think it can be a new start of the championship for me. Nothing is over and we have another four races to try and win the title.”

Sitting 34 points off the top of the standings and with four rounds remaining of 2018, there is still a big opportunity for the 22 year old to bridge the gap and take the title. Especially with performances like the one on Sunday, as he overtook rival Jules Cluzel (NRT) in smooth style.  Explaining his race winning move: “I stayed for three/four laps behind Jules, and I could only overtake him in the chicane because he was way too fast in the straights. My bike was better than the last races, but his bike is really fast. Once I overtook him I tried to push to go away, and it was perfect.”

Caricasulo and his rivals will now have a ten week wait to see if he can begin his championship charge, as WorldSSP returns at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve from 14^th – 16^th September. But you can enjoy all the WorldSSP action from 2018 with the WorldSBK VideoPass.