SBK, Yari Montella: "The bike matters more than money. Here's what I'm missing compared to Bulega

Yari Montella is having an outstanding 2026 Superbike season. He has taken 11 podiums, the last 6 consecutively, and he is third in the overall standings. A different story compared to 2025, the year he debuted in the category and struggled a lot to show his potential. Despite the underwhelming results, the Barni Spark Racing Team gave him another chance and it has more than paid off. The contract renewal for 2027 was a natural consequence. We talked about it with the rider from Campania.

“I’m surprised by myself. It was unthinkable to have a season like this after the difficulties, crashes, and mistakes of last year. This one was supposed to help me regain confidence and improve; I never imagined I could have such a positive 2026.”

“I confirm what Barni said. Mainly, I changed my attitude, the way I approach things, my method, and routine. Over the winter I analyzed last year’s mistakes, acknowledged them, and worked to avoid ending up in the same situation. 2025 was perhaps one of the most difficult years of my career, because I found myself crashing a lot and going into crisis. I couldn’t get out of it; every time I got on the bike I caused damage. It wasn’t easy. The work done over the winter paid off; mentally I made an important shift and sometimes I’m amazed at myself by how I react compared to 2025.”

“Let’s start from the premise that the 2025 package was also a winning one; Bulega proved it by fighting for the world title until the last round. Surely, the 2026 bike is an improvement, but last year’s was also very good. Now Ducati has managed to find more stability and limit the bike’s movements. With the single-sided swingarm there was a mechanism that triggered more movement; this year we’re able to turn those movements into traction, into force. I think that’s the biggest change. The swingarm works a lot both on corner exit and entry; this year we’ve managed to push all our references further forward, closer to the limit. The bike brakes a bit differently compared to 2025.”

“Taking the last round as a reference, which was the best in terms of performance, we noticed that we’re still missing something at the end of long races in terms of tire management. And we’re also working on pushing the braking points to the extreme: the goal is to stop the bike in less space. My two shortcomings are the areas where Bulega and Lecuona make the biggest difference compared to me.”

“Up to a point, because I’ve always been a rider very focused on my own patch. Surely, having a rider and a person like him alongside is stimulating, but after what happened last year I focused on myself to prove my worth and not burn my career. I needed to have a good season to be seen as a fast rider and not a flash in the pan who maybe had a couple of good seasons in the past. Certainly, at the beginning I wondered if I would manage to finish ahead of Bautista, but when you’re on track you think about yourself. We’re on the same team, but I have my people and he has his.”

“Ducati’s policy allows us to see the data of all the bikes, so I can look at Alvaro’s as well as Bulega’s and Lecuona’s. I’m more focused on the riders who share my riding style and are faster than me.”

“Surely the thought crossed my mind, but on my end I can’t do more than what I’m doing and my manager is in charge of finding the best solutions for me. I think the Aruba Ducati team still hasn’t made a decision for 2027; I preferred to make my choice instead of waiting and risking being left holding the short end of the stick.”

“No, also because maybe I moved early. I don’t know which of the available seats would have been interesting for me. At this point in my career, a change only makes sense if there’s an improvement; I’m not interested in a richer contract with a technical package that isn’t perfect. I want a package that lets me express my potential. This year I’ve started getting results and I want to keep riding this wave to make a name for myself and earn a place in Superbike.”

“By now it’s a second family to me—I feel like part of Barni. We’ve been through a lot together. In 2025 we hit rock bottom, but I was fortunate to always have Barnabò on my side. At the end of the season, when things were becoming emotionally unbearable and I couldn’t handle it anymore, both Marco and his son Davide came to talk to me to understand how they could help. You don’t forget gestures like that, and I’m grateful to them. Someone else might have decided to leave me at home, but Barni chose to confirm me for another year. We’ve built an excellent relationship and we keep nurturing it thanks to the great results we’re achieving. The trust I feel then translates into results.”

“Surely, the big goal is to finish the championship in third place in the riders’ standings. It would be a great result for both me and the Barni team. A second goal I have is to be able to do at least one race with the front guys. I’m not saying win, but at least be right there with them. The Donington weekend was the first where we started to see it as a realistic target; we got closer and started to smell the scent of the factory riders. That fuels us and pushes us to do even better.”

“It would be nice to increase the number of calendar rounds from 12 to 15–16, adding races outside Europe. That’s something the championship is missing. Also, I’d like to see other manufacturers come in. For example, I’m thinking of Aprilia and Suzuki, but also Chinese brands. That would give Superbike fresh energy, increase competition, and push everyone to improve.”