Yari Montella got his 2024 WorldSSP Championship campaign off to a perfect start by claiming second win of the Phillip Island weekend in a much-delayed, much shortened Race 2 sprint.

The Italian made the most of a rapid opening few laps that left his rivals in his wake to hold off a late charge for victory by Marcel Schroetter in a race that ran to just nine of the original 20 laps.

Indeed, the start of the encounter would be delayed by almost two full hours over concerns about grip levels around the fast, long Turn 2 left-hander after a significant amount of oil was deposited there in the closing stages of the earlier WorldSBK race.

With the new surface raising some doubts as to whether the clean-up could offer up a safe racing line for the next race, significant time was taken to clean the asphalt before WorldSSP Race 2 could get underway. Despite misgivings from some riders on the sighting lap, the race went ahead over nine laps - without a pit-stop - and there were to be no incidents at Turn 2.

With Montella starting from pole position by virtue of setting the fastest lap in Race 1 - part of a new format that would determine the positions of front three rows - the Italian made no mistake at the lights to get the hole-shot, ahead of Schroetter and Stefano Manzi.

It would prove to be the decisive moment of the race with Montella immediately getting the hammer down on the Barni Spark Racing Ducati, leaving Schroetter in his wake and quickly opening up a gap of almost +1.5secs before the mid-way point in the race.

Steadily, however, the gap would come down, Montella finding himself in a race with the lap counter and a steadily advancing Schroetter, who found himself on the tail of the Panigale V2 coming into the final couple of laps.

However, the German - still seeking his first win in WorldSSP - couldn't forge a path past Montella ahead, leaving the ex-Moto2 rider to celebrate a second victory for a full haul of 50 points to end the opening round of 12 with.

In second, Schroetter completed a bountiful weekend with his second podium, his route to the runners-up spot assisted by having closest rival Manzi tumble out of third place with four laps remaining.

The Italian - one of the favourites for the title this season - was trailing Schroetter when he suffered a low speed low-side from his Ten Kate Yamaha. Quickly remounting, Manzi rejoined in 15th and quickly made up positions in the aftermath, only to come down again at Turn 10 with two laps remaining, putting him out of the race entirely.

His exit therefore paved the way for Adrian Huertas to end his long wait for a WorldSSP podium on the 2023 title-winning Aruba.it Ducati.

However, the Spaniard will likely come away from the weekend feeling frustrated having qualified on pole position, only for a warm-up crash that led to a technical issue to put him out of contention early on in race one.

It meant he was forced to fight back from tenth on the grid in race two, losing him the chance to contend for the win he looked certain to fight for at the start of the weekend.

In fourth, Federico Caricasulo got the better of Valentin Debise late on, the latter Frenchman making it to the flag this time as he rounded out the top five.

Bahattin Sofuoglu consolidate MV Agusta's large haul of points in sixth place, ahead of 2017 WorldSSP Champion Luca Mahias and a racy John McPhee, the Scot capitalising on a much improved starting position (seventh compared with 21st for race one) to pick up another strong eighth place result on the leading Triumph.

Lorenzo Baldassarri bounced back from his Race 1 DNF to claim ninth, ahead of fellow Ducati rider Oliver Bayliss in tenth.

Rounding out the points' paying positions would be Yeray Ruiz (VFT Yamaha), Jorge Navarro (WRP-RT Triumph), Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph), Niki Tuuli (EAB Ducati) and Anupab Sarmoon (Yamaha Thailand)

2024 WorldSSP Phillip Island | RACE 2 Results

Sunday | Conditions - Overcast, dry [2 hour delayed start due to track conditions]

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Lap Records - WorldSSP

2024 WorldSBK & WorldSSP Phillip Island | Schedule & Programme