Carter Thompson takes breakthrough world championship win at Cremona.
Australian Carter Thompson has claimed his first FIM Sportbike World Championship victory, giving the new 2026 Yamaha R7 its maiden win in the category with a commanding performance at Cremona in Italy.
The Team BrCorse rider won Sunday’s Race 2 by 5.305 seconds over Xavi Artigas, capping a weekend in which he topped Free Practice, secured pole position and set a new race lap record.
After finishing fifth in Saturday’s closely fought opening race, Thompson started Sunday’s 12-lap encounter from fourth on the grid. He moved into second on the opening lap before briefly slipping back to fourth on lap two.
By lap four, he was in the lead. This time, the Australian was determined to escape the pack rather than get caught in another group battle.
Thompson stretched his advantage to almost two seconds by halfway and continued to pull clear, setting a race lap record of 1:36.157 on lap nine before taking the chequered flag more than five seconds ahead.
The result was particularly special for Team BrCorse, with Thompson delivering the breakthrough victory at the squad’s home round.
“I’m really happy to finally get the race win. I’ve been on the poduum a few times this year but I really wanted to get the win. It’s the home race for the team as well, so that makes it extra special. We knew we had good pace all weekend, but yesterday we struggled to fight in the group so my plan today was to try and get to the front and get a gap to run my rythmn and do my lines, and this is what we were able to do. Now we look forward to Jerez, and hopefully we can do it again!”
Teammate Marco Gaggi completed a double top-10 finish for BrCorse, bringing his R7 home in ninth after starting 10th and racing among the leading group early on.
Elsewhere in the Yamaha ranks, Mirko Gennai finished 14th despite serving two Long Lap penalties for a jump start, while Gonzalo Sanchez climbed from 34th on the grid to finish 16th.
Thompson’s victory moves him into third in the championship standings on 158 points, with the final round at Jerez on 16–18 October providing another opportunity to finish the season on a high.
