The Barcelona-Catalonia circuit will host this weekend the ninth appointment of the World Superbike calendar, and it will do so for the first time with an audience in the stands, since in 2020 sanitary restrictions caused the event to be held behind closed doors.
Before the test Ana Carrasco, Adrián Huertas and Manu González, of the SSP300 and SSP categories, visited the newsroom Ace. They are the maximum representatives of the good health of the Spanish quarry in the derivatives of the series. Carrasco (Murcia, 24 years old) was the first woman to be a world champion in a motorcycling world championship and it did so by winning in 2018 in the 300 category. Manu González (Madrid, 19 years old), inherited the throne in 2019 and made the jump to 600, where this year he has already won a race and has run two rounds in the MotoGP Moto2 World Championship. AND Adrián Huertas (Madrid, 18 years old) dominates the championship this season, with five victories in 10 races. They have also tasted González champagne, in Magny-Course and Carrasco in Misano.
With these credentials they appear in one of the four home appointments and in front of the fans, which makes them especially excited. “Running at home with people is always much better than to do it behind closed doors. Get more excited and motivate to have a good weekend “Comet the Murcian pilot, while González says:”I always like to see the stands full, especially if you win by celebrating it with people. Better to run at home. ” From the promoter they expect good attendance and complete the 15,000 available seats, in the stadium area, one of the areas with the best visibility: “Last year it had to be behind closed doors with everything that entails and this year, with great enthusiasm although obviously with all the capacity limitations, safety distances and such, we faced the challenge with fifteen thousand tickets for sale “. Without restrictions, the promoter would move around 30,000 seats in a large venue with extensive World Cup experience (F1, MotoGP).
They admit the motivation to act as a local, all wanting to win and in the case of Huertas, taking another step in the fight for the title: “I’ve had five wins but I always like to get a few more and score championship points“. A title that the youngest does not take for granted despite the regularity shown: “There is a lot of fish left to sell”. The difficulty of the category, with 43 drivers on the track and maximum equality, increases the value of the youngest’s results, something that Ana Carrasco confirms: “He is completing a year of 10, not failing is very complicated and always being at the top is very difficult, you have to assess what he is doing and it will be very difficult for them to take the title from him. “I don’t like comparisons, but they have told me about the Pedro Acosta of the Superbike. I tanned with him in the lower, in the Cradle of Champions for example in 2017. But the secret is work and knowing how to manage the careers. “
Good work and triumphs open doors for the future, but at the moment none of them have anything planned, as González assures, “focused on finishing the year”. And in the case of the Murcian, the back injury of 2020, to some extent slowed down the movements to new challenges: “We were clear about making the jump to 600, worse with the injury issue, we decided that the best thing was to continue one more year because making the jump in my conditions was very complicated“. Adrián Huertas, for his part, comments that in case of obtaining the title he does not rule out the challenge of the revalidation, something that no one has achieved since the category was created in 2017:” I will have to assess, but for the moment I am focused on win the title. I do not know what will happen. It calls me to take the leap, because my riding is a big bike but I could stay another year in 300 and try to revalidate the title, which also calls me “.
The figure of Jontahan Rea is an example for all three, but they miss more presence of Spanish riders in both Superbike and SSP: “It would undoubtedly be an impulse to have a strong and regular presence and with good results in the major categories.” The breeding ground is there, the results too, and having support categories like SSP300 created by Dorna facilitates the growth of the drivers within the same championship. So Carrasco predicts “an increasing presence of Spanish pilots in the SBK World Championship”.