YariMontella

Yari Montella enjoyed plenty of success in WorldSSP which enabled him to make the step up to WorldSBK for 2025. It was a rollercoaster rookie campaign for the #5, who often found himself fighting for the top ten but also crashing. He’ll be hoping a year of learning means he can eradicate those errors in 2026, plus the arrival of two-time Champion Alvaro Bautista.

Ducati (2025-)

Montella remained with the Barni Spark Ducati Racing outfit for 2025 but moves into WorldSBK after two seasons with the team in WorldSSP. The Italian was strong in testing and also at times throughout the season, finding himself inside the top ten but also in the gravel trap a lot. With a year of experience under his belt, can Montella make a step in 2026?

WorldSSP

Montella’s first WorldSSP ride came in 2021 at Portimao as a replacement rider and he secured two top-ten finishes, including an impressive P6 in Race 2. A full-time switch to the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing outfit followed and his first win came at the end of the year in Australia, but he didn’t remain on the ZX-6R, instead switching to Barni Ducati. He took five podiums in his first year on the Panigale V2 but 2024 was his breakthrough year: a title challenge came with seven wins and 14 podiums as he finished behind Adrian Huertas and Stefano Manzi.

Before WorldSSP

After some strong showings in what was then the FIM CEV Moto3™ Junior World Championship between 2016 and 2018, Montella made his Moto3™ debut in 2018 as a wildcard. In 2019, he moved to the FIM CEV Moto2™ European Championship with two podiums in his first year before a dominant title win in 2020: he won 8 out of 11 races, including the first six, and was on the podium in 10 outings. That secured a move to Moto2™ for 2021 but a difficult year meant he was out of the Championship at the end of the year, securing a move to WorldSSP and not looking back since.