Vannucci Leads Yamaha Podium Lockout in Opening Magny-Cours WorldSSP300 Race

10-09-2022

Vannucci Leads Yamaha Podium Lockout in Opening Magny-Cours WorldSSP300 Race

Matteo Vannucci completed a stellar fightback through the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship field in Race 1 at Magny-Cours to claim his second victory of the season, with Marc Garcia and bLU cRU graduate Alvaro Diaz making it an all-Yamaha podium.

After qualifying in 11th, Vannucci dropped to 29th and last place by the time they’d completed one lap in today’s race. The Italian then produced a monumental comeback, gaining places on every lap to put himself in victory contention on lap nine of 13. Although he crossed the line in second, Garcia was handed a penalty for touching the green on the final lap, promoting Vannucci to first.

Garcia’s day got off to a solid start with sixth in qualifying and he remained in the front battle throughout. Despite the penalty, the Yamaha MS Racing rider was still classified in second place, seeing him close the gap to the top of the standings.

The rider who currently occupies first in the championship, Diaz, charged from 10th on the grid to claim his eighth podium of the season in third.

bLU cRU graduate Ton Kawakami made up 20 places from his grid spot to finish seventh, while 2021 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup rider Humberto Maier added more points to his tally in ninth.

For Race 1 results, click here.

Matteo Vannucci: P1

At the start I lost my front brake, and I dropped to the back of the grid. I tried to improve my rhythm every lap and finally I was able to win the race. I think it is the best race of my career. Tomorrow I’ll try to repeat but you can never know in this category.

Marc Garcia: P2

The race was very hard, there were many crashes and the pace of the race was very fast. I made a mistake at the last corner in the chicane of the last lap, the bike was outside the line. I crossed the line in first place, but I had to drop a position for that. I’m happy about my race, but not about the result. But tomorrow we have another chance.

Alvaro Diaz: P3

The race was difficult because many riders crashed. Tomorrow we will need to change the bike set up. I need to change the front brake because I didn’t have a good feeling in the first part of the race. Anyway, I’m really happy with today’s third position, it’s good for the championship.