Manuel Gonzalez treated the Spanish fans to a memorable FIM Supersport World Championship performance on Sunday, with the ParkinGO Yamaha rider taking victory in Race 2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Race 1 winner Randy Krummenacher was just off the podium in fourth.
Having scored his second WorldSSP pole position on Saturday, Gonzalez had to recover from outside the top 10 in Race 1, after a slow stop dropped him from the lead, but the Spanish rider worked his way back through to a second-place finish in the wet conditions.
With the sun shining for Race 2, Gonzalez battled for the lead in the opening stages, dropping to second after the halfway point, before going wide at Turn 1 on lap 14, which saw him fall to fourth. The ParkinGO Yamaha rider then put on a fantastic charge in the closing stages, and on the final lap he hit the front with a smart move at Turn 10, holding off a late challenge to take his second-career victory.
After qualifying second on his first weekend with the CM Racing team, Krummenacher recovered from a difficult start to take a dominant first win since returning to the WorldSSP championship in Race 1. The Swiss rider was in the lead group throughout Sunday’s event, but lost positions in the final moments to finish in fourth.
Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Federico Caricasulo bounced back from a disappointing first race to finish sixth on Sunday, ahead of Evan Bros Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Steven Odendaal. The South African was eighth after a pit lane infringement penalty on Saturday and struggled for grip late in Race 2, and could do no better than seventh.
Kallio Racing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Hannes Soomer was back into the top 10 on Saturday, finishing seventh, with the Estonian picking up more points after scoring 11th in Race 2.
Replacing the absent Dominique Aegerter at the Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team this weekend was Simon Jespersen, who claimed 11th in Race 1 and 14th on Sunday, while Evan Bros Yamaha’s Peter Sebestyen finished ninth and 15th.
Ten Kate Yamaha’s Galang Hendra Pratama was outside the points in Race 2, having finished 13th on Saturday, ahead of Kallio Racing Yamaha’s Vertti Takala and GMT94 Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s 17-year-old rookie Ludovic Cauchi. The French youngster was involved in an unfortunate collision in Race 2 and is currently being assessed at the track for any injury.
bLU cRU rider Unai Orradre was just outside the points in both races, finishing 16th in Race 1 and 18th in Race 2 for the Yamaha MS Racing team, while GMT94 Yamaha’s Andy Verdoia sprained his ankle after a crash in Race 1 and couldn’t take the start on Sunday.
Manuel Gonzalez: P2 & P1
ParkinGO Yamaha
“It was an incredible second race, I tried to push from the first lap but De Rosa, Krummenacher and Tuuli were able to follow me. When I went wide at Turn 1, I thought ‘please no, not this again’ because a similar thing happened in Misano. I was then on the limit and almost crashed in Turn 12. In the end I arrived on the last lap and tried to take De Rosa on Turn 7, but it was really difficult. I managed to make the pass at Turn 10 after he went really deep on the brakes, and from there I had a lot of pressure through the last few corners, but I’m really happy I could hold on to take the win. Thank you to the team, they did an amazing job and I think we have a really good bike. I’m looking forward to Jerez, it’s a good track for me, so we will see if we can do the same there.”
