The Spanish rider secured the 2022 WorldSSP300 Riders’ Championship at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
With two wins and 11 podium places, Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) has clinched the 2022 WorldSSP300 Champion at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The new World Champion was challenged by Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki), Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) and Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) throughout the 2022 season, but he was able to secure the 2022 title and became the fifth Spanish Champion of the category.
In Portimao, the original start of Race 1 was red flagged following a crash at the end of Lap 2 involving Diaz' main rival Steeman, who was transported via helicopter to Faro Hospital with polytrauma and a head injury. Diaz was crowned 2022 after taking sixth place in the restarted race, which was raced over eight laps, while Geiger claimed his maiden victory in Race 1.
The 2022 WorldSSP300 Champion started his career in the ESBK Superbike Junior class where he finished the 2019 season sixth overall and came second in the Yamaha bLU cRU challenge. In 2020, he made his WorldSSP300 debut with the Biblion MotoXRacing Yamaha WorldSSP300 Team, finishing in 20th place in the Championship standings. In 2021, he participated in the Catalan and Spanish rounds as he claimed three top five finishes out of four races, including a career-first podium in Barcelona, missing out on victory by just 0.003s. 2022 marked his comeback for a full campaign with the Arco Motor University Team, concluding the season as the WorldSSP300 Champion. Diaz started his second season on a high as he took his first victory in the category in Aragon Race 2, before the really took hold of the Championship from the middle of the season onwards. He then claimed two wins and 11 podiums over the course of the season and amongst those, proved that consistency was key, taking points in all but one race and finishing in the top six in all but two.
With this latest achievement in his career, Diaz confirmed that he would follow in the footsteps of WorldSSP300 Champions before him such as Manuel Gonzalez, Jeffrey Buis and Adrian Huertas and graduate to WorldSSP for 2023. The new challenge will see him try and make a name for himself as he moves up through the WorldSBK paddock classes.
Alvaro Diaz, Arco Motor University Team:
"The race was difficult; Victor Steeman, stay strong and stay with the paddock. It was a difficult race but a happy day. I want to thank all my team for the hard work. This title is the result of five years of hard work. In the first race, I started thinking that I could achieve the title. It was difficult because the Championship is very long. At Assen, I thought I could 'restart' the Championship with our third position. In the last races, Victor was really fast, and he is a very strong rival. Marc Garcia stayed in the lead during the whole season, he was also my rival as a Yamaha rider.
Next year, I think I'll stay with Yamaha because they supported me for five years. I'm very happy with them and with my team. In 2023, I'll ride in WorldSSP. For me it will be a new adventure, a new adventure and I think I can do well."
DORNA World SBK