Gonzalez and Nozane Eager to Reunite at French GP Weekend

10-05-2023

Gonzalez and Nozane Eager to Reunite at French GP Weekend

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp are keen to see their rider line-up go back to its original set-up for 2023 for the first time since the opening round. Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane are set to be teammates again at Round 5, held in Le Mans, France.

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp are thrilled at the prospect of having their original 2023 riders, Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane, back together in the garage again for the Grand Prix de France weekend.

Gonzalez is feeling more motivated than ever to make a strong comeback at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. After a difficult Spanish GP but a very positive Jerez Test where he was the sole rider for Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, he is feeling confident that his findings will help him fight for more championship points this weekend. He currently holds 10th place in the overall standings.

Nozane suffered a crash in Round 1 and sustained a back injury that prohibited him from taking part in the first four GPs. The team wholly supported the Japanese rider to take his time to fully recover before making his highly anticipated comeback. On Thursday, Nozane will have a physical check-up to assess if he is fit to race. Though delighted at the thought of being reunited with the team and his bike, Nozane wants to start the weekend sensibly by gradually building up confidence and speed again.

The Bugatti Grand Prix race circuit was built in 1965, just a few kilometres from the city of Le Mans. MotoGP made its first visit to the iconic French track in the late sixties, and it remained a fixture until 1996. After some safety modifications, the 4.2km-long circuit was added back to the calendar in 2000. Its layout of five left and nine right corners places the emphasis on late braking, hard acceleration, and rear-end traction, which makes for some great battles.

Manuel Gonzalez

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"It‘s a new race weekend in Le Mans. It‘s a track I enjoyed last year and where I could achieve a good result considering it was one of the earlier races of my rookie year in Moto2. After the good work we did during the Jerez Test, this will be an important weekend to see the improvement. We'll try to continue the good momentum we had in the first races and to reach our objective, that is the top 5."

Kohta Nozane

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"First of all, I'm happy to finally be able to return to the paddock and reunite with my bike and my team. They have been very patient and supportive. I missed riding, so I‘m happy to be back and hope to be declared fit. I've ridden at Le Mans before when I competed in endurance racing. It's a circuit I really like. I'll do my best this weekend!"

Gelete Nieto

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, Sports Director

"Manu will face this race with a lot of desire to improve on the race in Jerez. He surely has been thinking a lot these days about the possible improvements in order to have a better weekend. I also think it will be important to assess everything we tested on Tuesday in Jerez, since we got a lot out of these sessions. He likes Le Mans, and it brings back good memories as it‘s a circuit where he already made it onto the podium some years ago.

"After his injury, Nozane returns to the team with great enthusiasm. On Thursday, Kohta will have to go to the circuit hospital to have his physical condition assessed before getting back on the bike. That same day we will have a meeting with his technical team to prepare for the training sessions and the tuning of the motorcycle for Friday. It will be important to see how he is doing in the first practices. Once we see his performance, we will be able to set goals during training."