Sportbike Most Race 1: Matteo Vannucci celebrates his first victory with Aprilia

Race 1 of the Sportbike World Championship at Most rewards Matteo Vannucci: first victory with the REVO-M2 team’s Aprilia RS 660.

For the first time this season, the Italian flag flies on the top step of the Sportbike World Championship podium. Matteo Vannucci, this year representing the REVO-M2 Aprilia team, claimed his first career win in WorldSPB at the end of a spectacular Race 1 held at the Autodrom Most. With composure and determination, the Florentine rider took the victory ahead of Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing Suzuki) and the championship leader David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI).

It wasn’t easy for Matteo Vannucci to achieve this historic result. Starting from the second spot, the 2021 Italian Supersport 300 Champion set the pace right from lights out, staying sharp at the most delicate moment of the battle. After a hesitation on the penultimate lap (he hit neutral on the exit of the first chicane) that could have cost him dearly, he was overtaken in one go by three riders, beginning his triumphant comeback. Vannucci immediately slipped past Antonio Torres for third, then took second a little later with a masterful late-braking move into Turn 1 on Jeffrey Buis. Only David Salvador remained, and the matter was settled on the final lap following a massive mistake by the Spaniard, allowing Vannucci to gain precious meters at the end to keep his rivals at bay.

For the native of Bagno a Ripoli, who became the fifth different winner in the five races contested so far in the 2026 Sportbike World Championship, this is his seventh hurrà in the WorldSBK paddock. Big celebration for Aprilia as well, breaking a drought of production-derived class victories that had lasted since 2018 with Maximilian Scheib in the days of the international Superstock 1000. While Vannucci boosts his championship standing, Jeffrey Buis’s charge to second puts him just a single point behind David Salvador, who finished third to complete the podium and pulled off a sensational late save “Marquez-style.”

The MTM Kawasaki duo of Loris Veneman and Xavi Artigas also stood out in the lead group, finishing fifth and sixth respectively behind Antonio Torres. Race 2 will start tomorrow at 13:00, again over a 12-lap distance at the Autodrom Most. Thanks to the fastest lap, our own Bruno Ieraci will launch from pole position; he finished eighth at the flag right on the leaders’ tail. A day to forget instead for Elia Bartolini (14th), forced to serve a double Long Lap Penalty due to an unlucky tangle with Jose Osuna during the formation lap.