EXCITING CONTENT successor to the irreplaceable Montjuic . There is even a form of 24 Hores de Catalunya de Motociclisme celebrating the 30 year history of the track in 2021 . Jonathan Rea won the first ever WorldSBK race at Catalunya last year , and wore a ‘ Ride Like A Girl ’ T-shirt in support of the theninjured Ana Carrasco , who had suffered a serious back injury in private testing in Portugal . Now back in the thick of it in WorldSSP300 again in 2021 , this year will be an emotional return for Ana to the Circuit de Barcelona- Catalunya , just a couple of good golf shots away from her KRT squads headquarters and race workshop . She is from Murcia , but given where her team comes from , racing at Barcelona is an important event for her . And just for good measure , to underline how much of a home race this is for many people in the paddock , HRC ’ s European base is also in Barcelona , putting two of the five main factory teams in the whole championship within a very short radius of the paddock gate . For the whole championship Barcelona is a home round , as Dorna has most of their media and other organisational efforts based in Barcelona . In some ways , it ’ s amazing that we never got here before 2020 , but let ’ s just be happy we made it in good order again in 2021 . With the first ever Catalunya WorldSBK race won by Rea , as outlined earlier , the second was a different affair altogether . The ten-lap Tissot Superpole ‘ sprint ’ race saw Yamaha ’ s Michael van der Mark challenge Rea , and then Alvaro Bautista come through on the Honda , before launching himself off in a huge highside . VDM took the win , and became the sixth different winner in 2020 . That record would not last long . Chaz Davies rode his factory Ducati to a popular Race Two victory , making it three different winners in three Catalunya races , and Davies the seventh different winner of 2020 . And let us not forget , this is the meeting where Garrett Gerloff ( GRT Yamaha ) took his first career podium , in that final race . In the Supersport classes , Catalunya became an instant classic when the rains arrived and Andy Verdoia won on his Yamaha . Controversies , flag-to-flag decisions , winning or losing all depending on when you pitted for tyres , whether you did not stop at all , and there was so much rain and spray it was simply difficult to see what was happening at times . But there he was , the youngest ever race winner at just 17 . And where did Andrea Locatelli become the first ever Italian-born WorldSSP champion ? Yes , at Catalunya , after winning a dry but amazingly combative Race Two on his Evan Bros Bardahl Yamaha R6 . What a classic Sunday race it was , for many opposite reasons after WorldSSP race one ’ s waterlogged wonder . No wonder Catalunya has immediately pushed itself up the order of great WorldSBK venues after just one season . All that stuff happened on its inaugural WorldSBK weekend . A true instant classic - why had we not come here before ? The impact of the circuit , also called ‘ Montmelo ’ after the nearby town ,
And where did Andrea Locatelli become the first ever Italian-born WorldSSP champion ? Yes , at Catalunya .
66