World Supersport championship leader Stefano Manzi enjoyed a productive test with the Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport Research and Development Test Team at Misano today.
Testing alongside WorldSBK peers, the Italian completed 103 laps aboard the R1 WorldSBK test machine in Wednesday’s running. Manzi only rode for the second day of the two-day test, with Yamaha WorldSBK test rider Jason O’Halloran aboard the R1 on Tuesday.
Making his debut on the R1 WorldSBK machine, Manzi impressed both in terms of outright lap time and consistency, improving with each exit to end the day with a quickest time of 1’34.428 – just over two seconds off the fastest time of the day set by WorldSBK championship leader Nicolo Bulega.
Manzi will return to his ‘day job’ with the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team for Round 6 of the FIM Supersport World Championship at Misano in two weeks’ time, where he’ll be looking to further increase his 40-point championship lead.
Stefano Manzi
“I think that was one of the best days in my life! It was amazing, I was working with a super team with the Yamaha Test Team and I got to spend my first day riding a Superbike! It was not easy, because there is a big difference with the Supersport bike but luckily I was able to adapt quite quickly. We made progress from the morning, which was the goal from the day – to continue to grow during the day and this is what we did. I am quite happy, and the team are happy too! I enjoyed riding the bike a lot, and the gap to the other Yamaha riders is not so bad considering I have only had one day on the bike – I was quite sad when I saw the chequered flag as I didn’t want the day to end!”
Niccolò Canepa – Road Racing Sporting Manager, Motorsport Division, Yamaha Motor Europe
“Everyone from Yamaha is happy with Stefano’s performance today as it is not easy to jump on a Superbike in just one day, to learn and be so fast immediately. Everyone is impressed, for sure about the lap time but also the overall pace because he showed very strong pace, he did over 100 laps and is fine physically, not tired and still excited! He has proven that a winning rider in WorldSSP can be fast in WorldSBK, so it was a productive test for him and we are for sure happy with his performance. Now he needs to focus on continuing his incredible start to the WorldSSP season and try and win the championship, and we will see about the future!”
