Mahias takes fourth place and overall championship lead

The GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team enjoyed a strong Sunday in Aragon at Round 3 of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship. Federico Caricasulo maintained his 100% podium record in 2018 by charging to a hard-fought second-place finish after a superb ride from the 22-year-old Italian. Reigning WorldSSP Champion, Lucas Mahias, missed out on the podium for the first time in 4 races as he could not quite find the perfect setup for his R6 due to the changeable conditions experienced over the weekend. Despite this, he fought his way to a battling fourth-place finish to retake the overall Championship lead.

The reigning WorldSSP Champion Mahias arrived in Aragon level on points with Randy Krummenacher in the championship standings after both Yamaha riders had recorded a victory and a second-place finish in the opening two races, but he left on Sunday night having retaken the outright lead in the overall standings. Despite qualifying in second for Sunday's race, the 29-year-old Frenchman has not been able to find the perfect setup with his R6 after being forced to miss most of FP1 on Friday due to the rain and had been playing catch up ever since. When the lights went out for Sunday's race, Mahias had a good start but could not match the pace of the leading three riders and dropped down to fifth. Realising a victory was not on the cards, he instead decided to cleverly play the long game and bring home as many championship points as possible. He fought his way back to fourth and showed incredible consistency - not lapping outside of the 1:55s until his grip levels faded in the final two laps - ensuring he crossed the line in fourth place to collect a vital 13 points. He now sits on top of the championship standings with 58 points and has a four-point lead over Cortese in second.

Lucas Mahias

GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team - 4th +5.533s

"Today was a very difficult race for me but I made sure to bring home the best result I could, with the Championship in mind, and I am back in the overall lead, which is very good. The race was very hard and I am a little bit angry because I could not fight with the front three riders. I was sliding a lot and I didn't get find the right setting for my R6 all weekend after losing Free Practice 1 to the rain, which made it harder for me. Now I am turning my focus to the next race in Assen and we will work hard to ensure we can find a good setup so I can win the race. Assen is a high-speed track and normally I am very fast at this kind of circuit because I like them a lot. I seem to be losing out a little under acceleration but in Assen, this should not be an issue as it is made up of lots of fast corners. I got the best result I good today. I will take the positives and I am looking forward to getting back on track at Assen already!"

Race report and image provided by Yamaha Racing