As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship arrives to the Misano World Circuit "Marco Simoncelli" for the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round, one of Italy’s own is feeling quite pleased with his Friday. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) has been one of the top independent riders on the Ducati Panigale V4R, and after a P3 triple at Most, then a bumpy round at Aragon last round, Montella is motivated to fight at the front once again in his home country.
Montella started Friday with a P4 finish in the morning’s Free Practice 1. The Italian ran the second most laps of the session behind Bahattin Sofuoglu (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team), clocking in his fastest of the event on Lap 7. The 1’33.115s time was less than a tenth behind Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), who ended the morning in P3, but the afternoon is where Montella came into his own.
“This afternoon I tried a long run to see how the tyres work here”
In the afternoon’s FP2, track temperatures rose by eight degrees centigrade to reach a sweltering 48º C (118º F), testing the mettle of each rider on track. Montella embraced the elements, and with his and his team’s focus locked on how the warm weather would affect their package, he gritted his teeth and rode a 16-lap stint to open FP2. He was the only rider among the top five times to lay down such a long run. By the looks, however, he and his team’s work is paying off, as despite the tyre’s theoretical wear lap after lap, Montella recorded his fastest time of the stint on his 14th lap, a 1’32.811, which sent him to P3 on the day, slower than only the factory Ducati pair of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and Iker Lecuona.
On the feeling from the first day of his home round, Montella said: “Not a bad Friday, I felt good on the bike. I felt good after the test a few weeks ago. We started playing with the standard setup, and we tried what we had tried in the test, and it worked well. This afternoon, I tried a long run to see how the tyres work here. Every year, it’s difficult to understand. It’s a track where you need to ride a lot to understand how the front and rear will react, especially in these hot conditions. We had a good afternoon session. I felt good, but I feel like we need to improve. I felt good on Friday at Aragon, but with different conditions on Saturday, we didn’t have the same pace. All the riders, like Alex Lowes, Bassani, Baldassarri, are riders that can improve; we need to improve too.”
“The tyre solution is quite clear”
Ahead of their title-sponsored round, Pirelli announced their tyre allocation for the weekend at Misano. Known as the E0479 back in 2025, the developmental compound has become Pirelli’s standard SCQ tyre in 2026, and it will make its return in the Tissot Superpole session and Superpole Race. Montella and his team are confident in their tyre choices for the trio of races to come, yet the #5 remains doubtful that it will provide an edge large enough to make up the gap between him and the two factory Ducati riders at the front.
On the tyre strategy he and his team are considering, and the prospect of fighting for the front two positions, Montella was candid in his reply, he said: “The tyre solution is quite clear, because we know one of the front tyres and one of the rear tyres works, it makes it quite clear. On Sunday, it will be hotter, so we will definitely use the SCQ. Nicolo and Iker are tough riders; they always have a step on us. It’s a dream to be able to fight with them, but with the results of Friday, it’s not in the plan. We don’t have the pace to fight with them.”
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