Mallorca’s Marc Vich has been crowned the 2024 FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup Champion after an incredibly tense race which saw the Top 6 riders over the line covered by just +0.379.
Championship runner up Gonzalo Sanchez took the final win of the season.
The title fight came down to the final metres of Race 2 at Motorland Aragón and an incredible battle involving a huge group of riders made the winner impossible to call until the chequered flag.
Vich got away well, initially grabbing the holeshot at the front of the field, and although the 17-year-old could have played it safe to secure the crown with his 18-point lead, he fought hard to win. This was made tricky by the number of fast riders in the lead group who were all keen to take top spot at the final race of the season. An incident between wildcard Max Palmowski and Takumi Takahashi saw the latter go down, running into the back of Vich in the process. This plummeted the champion elect down to 12th, a position he would not win the title from if his season-long rival Sanchez finished in front. The 16-year-old rookie from Teruel who won last year’s R3 SuperFinale gave everything to get to the head of the pack and take the crown from Vich, but with the likes of Eduardo Burr, Mario Salles, Cameron Swain and Alessandro Di Persio swarming him it was no easy task. 
In the closing laps Vich was able to show his steely focus and carefully carve his way back towards the front, eventually finishing the tense race in sixth place. This was enough to secure the title by three points. Sanchez came through to claim the final win of the 2024 season while Salles and Swain completed the podium.
Thanks to a fourth-place finish in Race 2, Italy’s Di Persio takes third position in the final championship standings behind the Spanish pairing. The rookie has shown great potential this season.
All the 2024 R3 bLU cRU World Cup races are available to watch on demand on the Yamaha Racing YouTube channel.
Marc Vich: “I didn’t really have a clear strategy for the race, just the obvious goal of winning the championship. There were a few moments of contact in the race, especially with Takumi’s crash, but I just tried to stay very focused and calm and think of it like any other race. I managed to catch the main group and I was incredibly happy because I knew from there the title was possible. It’s impossible to describe the feeling of becoming R3 World Cup champion, it’s been a huge dream for me and I want to say thank you to everybody who has made it possible. My ultimate dream is to be a rider in the WorldSBK class, and this has put me one step closer.”
For more info checkout our dedicated FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup News page superbike-news.co.uk/category/world-superbikes/r3-world-cup/
©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup
