Stefano Manzi completed a stunning double victory in front of his home crowd in Cremona on Sunday with a clever win in WorldSSP Race 2.
The result marked the first double win for the new Yamaha R9, but it wasn’t easy for Manzi from the second row of the grid. After taking his second win of the season on Saturday, Manzi was keen not to rest on his laurels and got a strong start from the front row. However, it was former Moto3 World Champion Jaume Masia who led most of the race, pulling a gap of almost a second over Manzi up until four laps to go.
However, determined as ever, Manzi hunted Masia down before launching an attack for the lead in the final couple of laps. The Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing rider’s trademark aggressiveness making for an exciting end to the race. Taking the lead for the final time on the last lap, Manzi was able to pull a gap in the second half of the lap to cross the line to take a third win of the year, extending his championship lead to an impressive 44 points after four rounds.
Lucas Mahias took fourth for GMT94 Yamaha, while class rookie Aldi Satya Mahendra continued his impressive start to the season with tenth for Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing.
Twice a winner this year, Can Öncü (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Racing) had run at the sharp end early in the race before rueing a decision to run the harder front tyre as he dropped through the order before unfortunately retiring with a technical issue.
2024 Japanese Superbike Champion Yuki Okamoto (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) scored his first points of the season in 14th, bouncing back from a challenging Saturday at Cremona. Michael Ruben Rinaldi finished 20th on the second GMT94 Yamaha.
The series continues at Autodrom Most, Czech Republic in two weeks’ time.
FULL RACE 2 RESULTS
FULL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) – Race 2: 1st, Championship Standings: 1st
“It feels amazing to do the double! It is difficult with the weekend schedule to be happy if you win race one as you have to focus on the fact there is another race the next day, so only after Race 2 can you be really happy and winning them both is not easy! It has been an amazing weekend for me, and for Yamaha with the first double win for the R9. Today was a demanding race, but I was able to get the win so of course I am happy! From the beginning of the season, we had a good start and the progression has been super nice so I hope we can continue in this way.”
