Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane will team up for Round 9 of the 2023 Moto2 World Championship, held at the Silverstone circuit this weekend. The Monster Energy British Grand Prix is the first time the Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp teammates share the garage since the opening round, when Nozane sustained a back injury.
Gonzalez, who is celebrating his 21st birthday on Friday, arrived in the UK holding ninth place in the championship standings with 52 points in total. Known as a fast learner, he will need to make use of his adaptability this weekend: for the first time MotoGP will run at the Silverstone track like F1, with the start-finish straight between Abby and Club corner. Manugasss is up for the challenge though and is feeling hopeful that he can challenge among the leading group this weekend.
Nozane is greatly looking forward to getting back on his bike. He suffered a crash in Round 1 and sustained a back injury that prohibited him from taking part in any further GPs in the first half of the season. The team wholly supported the Japanese rider to take his time to fully recover before making a comeback. They are delighted at the thought of being reunited with Nozane. His main aim this weekend is to gradually build up confidence and speed again.
Counting 18 corners and with a total length of 5.9 km, Silverstone is the longest track on the MotoGP calendar. It was added in 2010 but has a racing history of over sixty years. Thanks to innovations and investments, the circuit became one of the fastest MotoGP tracks and has earned high praise from the riders. This year MotoGP move to the international paddock, adding an exciting twist to the highly anticipated start of the second half of the 2023 Moto2 season.
Due to Silverstone being situated in a different time zone, the schedule for the British GP slightly differs from the usual Central European Grand Prix timetable. The P1 and P2 sessions will take place on Friday from 09:50 – 10:30 and 14:05 – 14:45 local track time (GMT+1). On Saturday P3 will be held from 09:25 – 09:55, followed by Q1 and Q2 in the afternoon at 13:45 – 14:00 and 14:10 – 14:25. On Sunday, the race is scheduled to start at 14:30 local track time.
