Today‘s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix Moto2 Race was a race of survival. Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp teammates Manuel Gonzalez and Kohta Nozane rode sensibly in the tricky conditions at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit to hold 13th and 16th place at the time the red flag came out.
Gonzalez had a good start from P10 initially, but slowly dropped down the order as he found himself in the middle of the pack. In the opening stages, he fell back to as far as 23rd, but with various riders getting caught out by the tricky wet and cool conditions in the opening five laps, the Spaniard soon started to rise up the rankings again. He was in 16th place for a short while before overtaking Ai Ogura brought him back in the championship point scoring positions. The overtake was done under a yellow flag though, which meant Manugasss had to drop down a place again. But as he did so, Celestino Vietti crashed out, which meant the Master Camp man remained in 15th place.
Although the weather conditions were getting worse, the Spaniard plowed on. He overtook Ogura once more and also passed Albert Arenas before the red flag fell. When the original Race was ended prematurely due to the strong gusts of wind, the race leader had completed nine laps. After a short delay waiting for conditions to ease for a restart of six laps, it was decided that the order at the time of the red flag coming out would be the final Race results. With 2/3 of the race distance not completed, half points were awarded, earning Gonzalez 1.5 points.
Nozane had a good start from P25 and briefly held 20th place in the opening corners. He lost some ground in the midst of the chaos of the eventful opening laps but later emerged riding behind his teammate in 17th place. He was trying to stay with him but struggled to put in overtakes as the wind picked up and the riding conditions worsened by the minute. When the red flag fell, the Japanese rider was circulating in 16th place, his best result of the 2023 Moto2 season.
Today‘s result means Gonzalez now has 116.5 points and holds 7th in the championship standings. Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp stay in 8th in the team championship, also with 116.5 points.
The Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp duo will be back in action next week for the Thailand Grand Prix, held at the Chang International Circuit, from 27th - 29th October.
