Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) has been a revelation in the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, sitting third in the Riders’ standings and becoming a consistent podium challenger. At Donington Park for the Prosecco DOC UK Round, the #5 continued that form on Friday by splitting the two factory Ducati riders as he claimed second place, and looks to have some significant race pace to his name as well.
Montella’s best time, like the majority of the field, came in Free Practice 2 as he set a 1’25.667s to claim P2, just two tenths down on pacesetter Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) who set a 1’25.460s. The #5 was able to split Bulega and his teammate, Iker Lecuona, with the Spanish rider finishing in third, 0.043s down on Montella.
However, it wasn’t just Montella’s one-lap pace that caught the eye. His race pace did as well. In FP2, he completed a long stint at the start of the 45-minute session of 15 laps (a full length race at Donington is 23 laps). Of these times, one was unrepresentative, three were in the 1’25s bracket, 10 in the 1’26s and one in the 1’27s; of the 1’25s, he set a 1’25.961s on the penultimate lap of the stint. His best time of the 15 laps came on the fourth lap when he posted a 1’25.909s.
In comparison, Bulega’s longest run in FP2 was 11 laps long. Of these, seven were in the 1’25s, three in the 1’26s and one in the 1’27s. Bulega’s best time of his stint came on his fourth lap as well, with a 1’25.460s. ‘Bulegas’ did a stint that was one lap longer in FP2 which comprised of two 1’25s, 1’28s and one lap which was unrepresentative. Lecuona did not do a run longer than 10 laps in either Free Practice session but set three 1’25s lap times across his 21 laps in FP2.
Discussing his Friday and his goals for the weekend, Montella stated: “It wasn’t a bad Friday! In the morning, we started with some problems on the bike, but in the end, we fixed it and we started working. In the afternoon, we made a big step. In FP1, the feeling was not the best. I was pushing but I was struggling a bit, making some mistakes in some corners with the line and braking points; it wasn’t clear. This afternoon, we made a big step because we tried a long run to understand how a tyre worked in the race. It was good. In the end, we put a new tyre on to push a bit, to try to make some adjustments on the bike, and we made another step. I’m happy but it’s just Friday. We’re working for a good weekend. The goal is to try to fight for the podium. It’s a good start to achieve this result but now we need to stay calm, try to enjoy the weekend, understand the bike, make adjustments and improve session by session.”
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