After taking victory in the opening race of the season, Stefano Manzi rounded out a successful debut weekend for the new Yamaha R9 in the FIM Supersport World Championship with a second-place finish in Race 2.
Conditions for Sunday’s 18-lap race were cooler and wind speeds were higher, presenting different challenges for the Supersport riders but Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) got off to a good start to lead into the first corner from third on the grid. Fellow R9 rider Can Öncü slotted in behind the Italian.
By the time of the pit stops at mid-race distance, Manzi and Öncü had lost some ground. Öncü returned to the track in sixth but Manzi lost more positions in the pits, returning to the track tenth. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (GMT94) was one of the biggest benefactors of a slick stop as he joined the battle for the lead in the second half of the race, even taking the number one spot when Marcel Schroetter crashed out of the lead.
A close battle ensued, but ultimately it was Manzi and Tom Booth-Amos who came through to fight for the win. Manzi took the lead at turn one on lap 14, but the British rider fought back hard. The duo exchanged the lead several times in the closing laps. Booth-Amos had built a small gap with two laps to go, but Manzi looked to have a chance of closing this down until a mistake at the hairpin made the gap insurmountable with the Italian crossing the line 0.6 seconds from the winner.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s pace paid off with a fourth-place finish while GMT94 Yamaha team-mate Lucas Mahias, who had lost time after he’d got caught up in another rider’s crash, finished sixth.
Can Öncü (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing) crashed out while battling for a top four finish on the final lap, but rookie team-mate Aldi Satya Mahendra enjoyed better fortune on Sunday as he secured his first WorldSSP points in 13th.
Manzi’s 1-2 scorecard sees him leave Australia joint championship leader with Booth-Amos on 45 points. Mahias sits sixth, Rinaldi eighth and Öncü ninth. The second round of the season takes place between 28-30 March at the Autodrómo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão.
“I can say in the end it has been a great, great weekend with the win yesterday and second today. Today I was struggling a little bit more, especially with the wind, but it was good to finish second and I was close to first but one mistake on the last lap, when I hit a false neutral, meant I couldn’t fight for the win in the last few corners. It is a good start, but there is still room for improvement so this is encouraging as I think the team and Yamaha can further improve the bike and hopefully we will be in a strong position as we return to Europe.” — Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 2nd
