Gonzalez Gains Confidence at COTA on Americas GP Day 2

09-04-2022

Gonzalez Gains Confidence at COTA on Americas GP Day 2

Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team‘s Manuel Gonzalez had a strong start to today‘s Moto2 Q1 session, setting his best lap of the Grand Prix of The Americas weekend so far. However, it was not enough to keep him in the top 4 and promote to Q2. He will start tomorrow‘s race from P23.

The Circuit of The Americas is known to be technically and physical challenging. On Day 2 of the Grand Prix of The Americas, Manuel Gonzalez got more familiar with this unique circuit. The Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team gave it their all in this afternoon‘s Moto2 Q1 session. In hotter and more windy riding conditions than in the FP3 session, the number-18 rider took 23rd place on the grid.

Gonzalez was quickly out of the pit box in the 15-minute shoot out. He posted a promising benchmark lap and slotted into fourth place. Growing in confidence, he improved his time to a 2‘11.078s on his next try and took provisional third place.

However, many fast laps from rivals came in during the second half of the session. Unable to retaliate, he was pushed to ninth place. The Q1 result puts him in P23 on the grid for Sunday‘s race.

Gelete Nieto

Sports Director

"Today we had a complicated day, but we still managed to improve our time compared to yesterday. This track is quite difficult, it‘s quite unusual, but Manu is steadily getting to grips with it. We had a little setback with the bike in FP3. The bike is very good on braking, but we have to work on cornering and exiting the corner. After the practice session we had a technical debrief to find improvements. Manu had to take part in Q1, and we wanted to give him the best possible package to get into Q2. We tried a new setting solution in Q1, but he didn‘t feel happy about the amendments. Since the session is only 15 minutes, there was no time to change this, but it was still good that we tried this setting. It gave us a better understanding of what direction we should work in with Manu, so it‘s a positive learning experience."

Manuel Gonzalez - P23 (2‘11.078)

Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team

"I‘m not happy about the qualifying. I didn‘t feel good with the bike, and in some corners I was losing a lot of time. It was very difficult to turn and do the corners well and fast. We worked a lot, and we found different things that helped me at the braking points. This is the way to go faster with this bike here. We'll continue our work for tomorrow. We're trying to improve, and I‘ll push during the race!"