Yari Montella was critical of his rookie season in the World Superbike Championship after failing to score points in 20 races.
The 2025 World Superbike campaign saw four rookies enter the class, one of which being Yari Montella with the Barni Spark Racing Team.
After three years in the World Supersport Championship and two years with the Barni Spark Racing Team on the Ducati Panigale V2, the Italian was promoted to the Superbike Championship with the same team.
Montella had a promising start to the season at Phillip Island as he claimed two top ten finishes across the three races in the opening round of the year. However, he only claimed seven more top ten finishes throughout his rookie season.
The Italian found himself in a 'downward spiral' throughout the season as he failed to finish 12 of the 36 races in his rookie year, and failed to score points in eight further races.
"We got off to a good start, even better than we expected. We saw that the potential was there, and we achieved good results in the first few races," Montella told Corsedimoto.
"Then, however, I got caught in a kind of downward spiral. I made mistakes, crashed often, and had some problems with the bike. I went through a very difficult time mentally. It seemed as if I had gotten caught in a whirlpool that was hard to get out of.
"The many crashes certainly didn’t help me. The crashes weren’t due to excessive enthusiasm or speed. I believe they were caused by inexperience. Fortunately, I was never too badly injured, even though the crashes obviously took a toll on my morale."
'I don't deserve a passing grade...'
When he was asked to grade his rookie season in World Superbikes, Montella refused to give himself a positive grade and remained self-critical of his performances.
"A five, I don't deserve a passing grade," he explained.
"The first few races might have deserved a seven, but then things went badly, and if I said it was a six, I wouldn't be honest with myself. What remains are the numbers, the results, and those were lacking.
"The 2026 season has already started for me in Jerez. This year I played a few tricks, and I don't think I'll have many left for next year."
