Top Five for The Daytona 660 in The World Sportbike Championship

The Triumph Daytona 660 made a strong start to its FIM Sportbike World Championship campaign this weekend with a fifth and three top ten finishes in the opening round of the season at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão.

Making their first official debut in practice, the CM Triumph Factory Racing and PHR Performance Triumph teams ventured out to build on the data captured from last weeks’ official test, putting themselves in prime position for Superpole. A hectic qualifying session ended with Bruno Ieraci (CM Triumph Factory Racing) in seventh, Fenton Seabright (PHR Performance Triumph) ninth, Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing) was 15th, and Harrison Dessoy (PHR Performance Triumph) rounded out the Daytona 660’s results in 23rd.

Making a strong start to race one on Saturday afternoon, Ieraci instantly got in the mix, pushing for the podium places in the opening few laps. Maintaining his place near the front of a fierce group battle, the Italian kept his composure, pushing to the front before a red flag halted the race.

Restarting for a five-lap sprint, Ieraci made another promising start, but this time was joined by teammate Bartolini, who muscled his way ahead of his CM Triumph Factory Racing stablemate into second. Unfortunately, a small crash for Elia ended his podium challenge, though he did remount to cross the line in 23rd.

Meanwhile, Ieraci pushed to the very end despite struggling with his rear tyre by the end of the race, crossing the line in sixth place to mark a strong debut for the Triumph Daytona 660.

Race two on Sunday was a similar affair, with both riders battling in the leading group, with Bartolini sitting third. Eventually, after a last-lap charge for the podium, the Italian youngster crossed the line fifth, while teammate Ieraci made a strong getaway and ran inside the top ten during the early stages, but was unable to mount an attack at the front of the group. Pushing his Daytona 660 to the very end, he crossed the line 10th, making it two top tens in Sunday’s second encounter.

PHR Performance Triumph’s weekend suffered an early blow with both Seabright and Dessoy crashing out of the opening race. A strong performance in Superpole followed by a fast start to the race ended prematurely through no fault of their own, crashing out at Turn 1 and Turn 3 on another rider’s oil, with Seabright sadly declared unfit for the remainder of the weekend due to a dislocated shoulder.

Luck turned for Sunday’s 11-lap battle, with Dessoy making a fast getaway from 22nd on the grid, cementing himself inside the top 20 on the opening lap. As the laps ticked away, the British rider continued to make progress, slowly working his way into points and then towards the top ten, but ran out of laps to make any further progress, finishing the second race in 12th to secure his first points in the World Championship.

Portimão’s opening FIM Sportbike World Championship races see Bruno Ieraci sit eighth in the overall standings with teammate Bartolini in 10th. Dessoy heads to the TT Circuit Assen, lying 15th.

The FIM Sportbike World Championship returns for the second round of the season at Assen, Netherlands, on 17-19 March.

Bruno Ieraci - CM Triumph Factory Racing

"We've had a good first weekend here in the championship at Portimão, we worked a lot and we had good results as a team. We now look forward to the next round at Assen, where I will do better. Thanks to CM Racing and Triumph! ”

Elia Bartolini - CM Triumph Factory Racing

“I’m happy because I tried to push for the win, but for this race it was not possible. I will work hard towards the next race in Assen and hope we can be closer to the podium. Thank you to my team and Triumph, we have had a good weekend and will continue to push to make progress.”

Harrison Dessoy - PHR Performance Triumph

“Points on the board this weekend which I’m really, really happy with. I feel like I rode really well in today’s race. Starting from 22nd on the grid was a bit of a challenge to make my way through, but lap by lap, but by bit, I made some really good overtakes and managed to get 12th place. I’m super happy, the team has done a fantastic job and I’m looking forward to getting to Assen in a few weeks.”

Fenton Seabright - PHR Performance Triumph

“That’s the first weekend over and done with here at Portimão. It’s been a good weekend to be honest and we’ve had a load of positives. Sadly we didn't get to race today, as I was declared unfit after yesterday’s crash on the oil. But we had the pace to be in the front group, I got the second fastest lap of the race, so happy with that! It was so good for Harrison to get those points today, so we have a lot of positives, which we’ll take now to Assen.”