Racing action at the first day of the EICMA Estoril Round was closed out on Saturday with the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship’s Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300) taking his fifth career win in the category. Teammates Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) and Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) both made dramatic late moves to get onto the podium ahead of the title leader Benat Fernandez (Team #109 Retro Traffic Kove). #50’s P2 spelled a fifth podium of the season for Thompson and a tenth career podium for his #71 Dutch teammate.

VANNUCCI STRIKES GOLD AGAIN: With his Race 1 victory, the Italian has now won more races in the last 2 weeks than he had in the last two years

Vannucci held on to his pole position to take the holeshot at lights out before David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) jumped out in front and led the race for stretches on the second lap. He and the other Kawasaki Ninja 400 machines looked strong on the straight as Carter Thompson and Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) fought with Vannucci for the race lead early on. Combative as ever, the Italian #91 hung around the top positions throughout the entire race. As the race wound down to its conclusion, in the last lap, Vannucci got out in front ahead of teammates Carter Thompson and Loris Veneman, who each emerged from drafting behind Benat Fernandez to pass the Championship leader and demote the rookie to P4.

SALVADOR FINISHES BEHIND TITLE RIVAL FERNANDEZ: The rookie’s lead grows to 15 over the Kawasaki rider

David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) slugged it out at the front of the pack with his rivals; however, he lost a series of positions after being shuffled out of the way in the last lap to finish in P5 behind his main rival #7. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) battled with his teammate Salvador and others in the lead pack’s melee, falling victim to Veneman and others’ late charge to drop to P6.

MAIER MISSES P8 BY A HAIR: Mogeda beats the Brazilian to the line by a thousandth of a second

Juan Risueno (MS Racing) started in P11; however, he and his Yamaha R3 fought well in the top five for stretches before earning P7. Dani Mogeda (Pons Motosport Italika Racing) finished the race in P7. However, the Spaniard was shuffled back a position to promote Risueno to P7 after Mogeda received a Track Limits Penalty from the FIM WorldSBK Stewards on Turn 4 of the final lap.  Despite the penalty, he continued his much-improved run of form from Aragon as he matched his Aragon Race 1 P8 finish. Humberto Maier (Yamaha AD78 FIMLA by MS Racing) gave Mogeda a run for his money, as the Brazilian was only outpaced by 0.001s, pushing him to P9 from his P8 starting grid position. #13 Roberto Fernandez (Kawasaki Junior Team by MTM) followed the #12 Maier across the finish line to take P10, tying his second-best finish of the season so far.

The top six from the WorldSSP300 Race 1: Full results here!

1. Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300)
 2. Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) +0.304s
 3. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) +0.336s
 4. Benat Fernandez (Team#109 Retro Traffic Kove) +0.360s
 5. David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) +0.517s
 6. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) +0.642s
 Fastest lap: Benat Fernandez (Kove), 1'49.842s

Tune in on Sunday for the thrilling conclusion of WorldSSP300’s weekend in Estoril! Watch live or on demand with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now just €9.99!