Superbike: Mattia Rato, the emotions of his debut: "Phillip Island isn't like it looks on TV

Joy and pain. Mattia Rato returns home aching from the injury in Race 2 but happy. At Phillip Island he had an unforgettable experience. He didn’t make it into the points, which was widely predictable. Besides, the single point scored by his teammate Bahattin Sofuoglu is already a good result for Motoxracing.

Mattia Rato improved session after session. Clearly his bike, a very privateer Yamaha R1, suffers a significant performance gap compared to the competition. If even a reigning World SSP Champion like Stefano Manzi struggled with a GRT team R1, imagine what a young rider coming from the CIV Supersport could do. Mattia Rato started last, ahead only of Oliveira who hadn’t managed to set a useful time due to a crash and a technical problem. He then finished at the back of the pack in both Race 1 and the Superpole Race, and in Race 2 he crashed in the early stages.

"After the crash everything seemed fine, I didn’t feel too much pain," Mattia Rato tells Corsedimoto. "Once the adrenaline wore off I felt a sharp pain in my chest, particularly in the ribs at the top right. I had X-rays and everything seems okay, but I’m still in a lot of pain. Otherwise, though, all good."

"For me qualifying was almost more exciting than everything else. In Race 1 I wasn’t much among the big guys, actually. In the Superpole Race, though, I made a few passes and stayed more in the group. At the start I had Lecuona behind me [he had run wide and ended up at the back, Ed.] and also Oliveira. They both passed me and it was strange seeing them there. Being overtaken by them had quite an effect on me; I almost asked myself, ‘What am I doing here?’ I didn’t quite realize it. [Laughs]. In the end the lap times were good considering my starting situation. I’m very happy and so is the team. In Race 2 I was a bit too impulsive. I passed a bunch of riders around the outside in three corners and then at the fourth I didn’t stay upright."