Image: Supplied.

Australia’s Luke Power took the next step in his rookie WorldSSP Challenge campaign at Imola, the Motozoo ME AIR Racing rider scoring season-best 19-15 results and his first Supersport World Championship (WorldSSP) point.

Power competes in the WorldSSP Challenge which runs alongside the Supersport World Championship at the European rounds.

During the Imola round – which marked the fifth WorldSSP event of his career – a series of yellow flags and a red flag prevented his fastest lap in superpole from being counted, meaning the number 68 lined up P27 on the grid.

In Saturday’s opening race, Power made swift progress forward on the first lap before ultimately concluding the bout in P19, improving to 15th for race two which was contested in temperatures of nearly 40 degrees.

“I am really happy with how things went at Imola, the team’s home race,” Power explained. “It started a little slower than I had expected but we worked hard and made good steps throughout the weekend.

“I achieved my first top twenty finish of the season on Saturday and in Sunday’s race was able to lap faster than I did in Superpole despite the extremely hot weather conditions and was able to score my first world championship point.

“It was the hottest weekend of my life but to bring home a point for me and the Motozoo ME AIR is satisfying, and I am proud of what we achieved. The next race is at Most Autodrom at the end of the month, and I am looking forward to carrying this momentum to the Czech Republic.”

Power now sits P5 in the 2023 WorldSSP Challenge as the next round of the series takes place at the Autodrom Most in just under a fortnight.