Gonzalez Finds Speed on Italian GP Friday

09-06-2023

Gonzalez Finds Speed on Italian GP Friday

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez and Kasma Daniel were pushing on Day 1 at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello. The teammates enjoyed riding at the beautiful track, and despite a crash in P2 for both riders, they showed promise. They ended the Friday in 11th and 31st place respectively in the combined results.

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez and Kasma Daniel found the first two riding sessions of the Gran Premio d‘Italia hard work but rewarding overall. A crash in P2 didn‘t slow Gonzalez down. He achieved his goal of staying within the top-14, setting the 11th fastest time of the day. Daniel also suffered a crash in Turn 1 in the afternoon, but overall gained good experience and confidence on the bike, ending the day in 31st position.

Gonzalez had a solid morning session at the Mugello track. He adores the flowing Tuscan hills and the track lay-out, but it does make for hard work both in the garage and out on track to get the setting and the riding style perfectly suited. Manugass spent most of P1 in 11th place, but ultimately ended in 13th position in the timesheets with a 1‘51.961s set on lap 13/17.

The Spaniard didn‘t have the start to P2 he wanted. A crash in Turn 1 early on in the session cost him valuable time. But unharmed and perfectly capable to continue, Gonzalez got the bike back to the garage. With over 24 minutes remaining, a red-flag situation bought him some extra time. When the session restarted, the number-18 rider was ready to go again, and he improved. He set a best time of 1‘51.884s, on lap 9/11, which put him in 6th place in the P2 results and 11th in the combined rankings.

Daniel had his work cut out for him in P1, getting to grips with the 2023 Moto2 bike and the Mugello Circuit, which is new to him. The Malaysian rider was highly motivated to get to work. He put in 15 laps and set his best time of the morning session on his penultimate try. His 1‘55.240s put him in 31st place.

The replacement rider was pushing in the afternoon. Unfortunately, he too got caught out in Turn 1. However, in his case it was after the red-flag situation. The number-27 rider was okay to continue without injuries, but he was unable to bring the bike back to the garage. This meant he couldn‘t push for a hot lap in the final stages of the session, so his morning time remains his best time of the day, keeping him in 31st place.

Manuel Gonzalez

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"It was a pretty positive Friday here in Mugello. We started P1 with an aggressive bike to see how it would move and how to adapt it, but I didn‘t like the setting. We made some small changes in P2, and I was able to improve my lap time in higher temperatures. I had a small crash at the beginning of P2, but we are still inside the Q2 for tomorrow. I know we can improve even more."

Kasma Daniel

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp

"First, I‘d like to express once more my gratitude to Yamaha and the team for the chance they gave me to ride a Moto2 bike again after three years. Now the bike is better than in 2020, but I need to work a lot with my crew chief and my telemetry engineer to understand it better and try to improve my lap time. Mugello is a new track for me, and I need to learn all its secrets to ride it in the best way. I‘m lucky to have a fast rider like Manu as my teammate, so I have the chance to ask him for some tips."

Gelete Nieto

Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp, Sports Director

"I'm very satisfied with today's work and the result obtained by Manu after his small crash in P2. The first laps of P1 helped us to test the set-up of the bike, from there we started working to try to improve it. In the first training session, Manu already improved on the time of last year and was just one tenth short of the seventh position. In P2 he had a small crash, but we managed to get back on track and finish in 6th position. In the combined times we are 11th, but in the P2 results we're just a few tenths away from the riders ahead of us.

"These first practices for Kasma served to adapt his position to the bike and get to know this difficult circuit. His fall in P2 made him lose a few valuable minutes. Tomorrow he will continue learning and improving."