Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Show Promise on Qatar Friday

17-11-2023

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Show Promise on Qatar Friday

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp had two productive practice sessions at the Lusail International Circuit. Manuel Gonzalez showed he had good pace overall and ended the day 6th in the combined session rankings. Kohta Nozane found a big time improvement in P2 but didn‘t move up in the classification and saw himself in 29th place.

The Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp squad started the penultimate 2023 Moto2 World Championship round with high motivation. Manuel Gonzalez demonstrated just how much he has grown as a rider since making his official Moto2 debut in Lusail in 2022. He showed great pace and went on to secure 6th place in the combined rankings. Kohta Nozane used the first day in Qatar to get to know the track on a Moto2 bike. He took 29th place in the combined timesheets.

Gonzalez took less than ten minutes to top the live timing in P1, setting multiple provisional fastest times of the session. The strong performance underlined how confident Manugasss is feeling for the Qatar GP weekend. He showed that he had the pace throughout the 40-minute session. He clocked a 2‘01.440s best time on lap 14/14, which had him finish the session in second place.

The Spaniard improved his pace in P2 as he prepared for the shoot-out at the end of the evening session. As expected, the times dropped. Gonzalez responded by flashing red sectors in the final stages on various laps and improved to a 1‘58.673s on lap 15/17 which put him in sixth place in the P2 and the combined timesheets.

Nozane was keen to reacquaint himself with the Lusail International Circuit in the P1 session. He put in 14 laps in total to get to grips with the flowing sections as well as the braking and acceleration points, though the level of grip on track was still quite low. The Japanese rider spent most of the session in 25th place and also finished in that position with a 2‘05.001s best time, set on lap 13.

Though the grip improved in P2, the evening session proved more challenging. Whilst Nozane held 26th place for most of P2, he was unable to climb up the rankings during the mini time-attack at the very end. He set a best time of 2‘00.917s on lap 10/14. It put him in 29th place in the P2 and the combined results.

The Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp teammates will be back in action on Saturday from 14:15 - 14:45 GMT +3 for P3, followed by the qualifying sessions from 18:45 - 19:25.

Manuel Gonzalez

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"It was a strong Friday for me today. I was enjoying the riding at night-time during P2 a lot – I love it. My feeling with the bike was good all day. I was doing a lot of laps with the hard tyre riding alone, trying to improve in the corners because the track was dirty. At the end, we put in the soft tyre to see how it would do, and I wasn‘t that fast, but my pace is strong compared to the others."

Kohta Nozane

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"The grip in P2 was much better compared to P1. I need to make a stronger pace, but the feeling I had with the bike is not so bad. It‘s been difficult to manage the tyres at the end of the session. I‘ll push more tomorrow."

Gelete Nieto

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, Sports Director

"Manu had a strong pace today. He likes the bike, and he‘s feeling confident with it. It‘s important for tomorrow and Sunday‘s work. He needs to use the soft tyre better, and that‘s something the team is working on.

"Kohta had some difficulties to get grip in the first session. It‘s difficult for him to stop the bike in some points, he had some issue in braking. Anyway, he‘s working hard to do better tomorrow."