WSBK: Mahias Steps Up with Puccetti Kawasaki Racing

Lucas Mahias will step up to WorldSBK in 2021 with the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team.

The 2017 WorldSSP champions has been competing for Puccetti’s effort in the lower class since 2019. In their time together, they collected 13 podiums with three race wins, the most recent one coming last weekend at Mahias’s home round in Magny-Cours.

The Frenchman will be a full-time rider in WorldSBK for the first time in his career.

Mahias made his WorldSSP debut in 2014 when he joined the paddock for the final two rounds of the season. It however was not until 2017 that he became a permanent fixture on the grid aboard a Yamaha YZF-R6 and achieved his breakthrough. Two wins and six other podiums were enough for him to fight off a late charge from Kenan Sofuoglu and secure the championship title.

He narrowly relinquished the crown to rookie Sandro Cortese in 2018 before switching to Puccetti Kawasaki for 2019. The line-up finished fourth overall in their first season together and Mahias currently sits in runner-up spot for the 2020 campaign.

Mahias commented on his promotion:

“This is the best news for me, I’m really happy; it is the sweetest moment of my career. When I come to World Championships, I had one dream to win in World Supersport and in 2017, I did that. I tried to win again, and it was a little bit difficult. Now, in my head, the second dream is exactly the same in World Superbike.

When I arrive at Puccetti Kawasaki I thought that maybe, with the Superbike in the box, if I can ride fast in WorldSSP then maybe I can have the Superbike in the future. It’s a start of a new adventure with a lot of work but I’m ready for this challenge. I don’t have any goals for the moment apart from to improve step-by-step. For the moment, I don’t have a big objective, just to improve and to understand things for the future to ride at the front.”

Lucas Mahias

Mahias made a brief WorldSBK appearance at the Dutch Round in 2016 when he came in as a replacement at Pedercini Kawasaki. Finishing 10^th and 13^th respectively, he took points in both races.

Puccetti Kawasaki have been part of the WorldSBK grid since 2017 and kept building up their profile. Toprak Razgatlioglu delivered the squad a first podium in Race 2 at Donington Park in 2018 before storming to his and the team’s first victory a year later in Magny-Cours.

The Italian outfit claimed the Independent Teams’ championship in 2019 and came into 2020 with the return of Xavi Fores. A difficult 2020 season led the parties to go their separate paths and the way was cleared for Mahias.

Team Principal Manuel Puccetti welcomed the Frenchman’s promotion:

“It’s nice that Lucas believes in us from World Supersport three years ago. We did our best for him this year, after six months away from racing because of the difficult situation. Last year, he did six podiums and two victories and this season, he’s been inside the top two or three every session. We believe in him and will do our best to help him grow in WorldSBK. Of course, we don’t expect him to win immediately, as it is important to give him time and be allowed to grow.”

Manuel Puccetti